Is a security consultant necessary when developing a school safety plan?
It depends. A properly credentialed and experienced school safety consultant can be an invaluable asset. We urge schools as a non-profit center to be very cautious when hiring consultants. Our feeling, and we have heard this expressed from officials from most, if not all, of the school safety centers in the country, is that about 75% to 80% of school safety consultants are not qualified to do the type of work that they do, at least in some cases. You will see law enforcement officers teaching mental health, and mental health professionals teaching law enforcement. We see people with falsified credentials, they say they are a doctor but they don’t have a PhD. We see people working with mail order certifications. There is no regulation of this as an industry, and so we want to be sure that we are able to sort out, make sure that the consultants you choose, if you feel they’re appropriate, are qualified in the area they’re working in.
