A SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACH TO SCHOOL SYSTEM ENHANCEMENTS FOR COUNTERING ACTIVE SHOOTERS IN U.S. K-12 SCHOOLS

Abstract

U.S. K-12 institution school shootings have generated considerable public concern and nurtured a widespread impression that existing school safety and security measures currently in use are insufficient. This capstone demonstrates a systems engineering approach to analyze school system enhancements to counter the active shooter (AS) threat. We review school shooting case studies and stakeholder interviews to determine capability gaps in existing school systems. To do this, we use an inductive process to evaluate how an AS can successfully conduct an attack. Similarly, we apply a deductive process to evaluate how system faults can enable a successful attack. We conduct functional analyses to determine how the enhanced system will counter the AS threat. We create an ExtendSim model that simulates an AS event and enables decision makers to determine how different school system enhancements may affect casualties. We simulate implementing various school system enhancements through single-factor analysis to compare the effects of their implementation to each other and against a baseline reference. The simulation demonstrates the process by which decision makers can tailor the model to compare alternative school system enhancements for their schools.