TEXARKANA, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) – Lawmakers continue to focus on school safety, and school districts across Texas are preparing for “random intruder detection audits,” including the Texarkana Independent School District.
These safety checks resulted from Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s request for an audit to ensure school building security in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde that left 21 people dead and 17 injured.
Staff members with the Texas School Safety Center will approach campuses to find weak points in security and examine how quickly they can get inside the buildings without being stopped.
Law enforcement with TISD said they have been preparing for this and will add extra security on campuses. Those additional security measures include access control on doors from a touch of a button, higher fences on all campuses, and exterior cameras.
“I think this is a great thing that these auditors are coming around,” TISD Police Chief and Director of Security Brad Irvin said. “You know you need an outside person sometimes to come in and show you. They may see something that you don’t see as a district as far as your safety measures.”
The center will alert local law enforcement and central administration when it is planning to audit a campus but said the school campus would not be aware the audit is occurring.
