Law enforcement educator Clayton Cranford discusses school safety on Uvalde anniversary

It's been one year since the May 24, 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, where a gunman shot and killed 19 school children and two teachers.

Since the Uvalde incident, there have been more than 200 mass shootings. The Gun Violence Archive has logged 239 mass shootings in 2023 alone. Mass shootings are categorized as such when four or more victims are shot, or killed, according to the archive.

While the Uvalde community and families still wait for answers in the criminal investigation as to why It took 376 officers from over 20 agencies 77 minutes to breach the classroom door and stop the shooter, the discussion continues as to how we can prevent these tragedies from occurring in the first place.

Wednesday, former Orange County sergeant and school resource officer, Clayton Cranford, founder of Cyber Safety Cop, shared his insights into what could help with the mass shooting surge, especially at schools.

Cranford said it comes down to training and resources.  "We have law enforcement agencies across the United States who are not prepared to do a behavioral threat assessment and that's maybe one of the biggest problems is we have a person of concern, and they aren't trained to properly identify that person," said Cranford.

Once identified, then what. Cranford explained that usually, it's a mental health issue and how to get that person immediate help to move them off the path of violence and onto a healthier path.

The shooting suspects don't usually just snap one day Cranford explained. "Usually we see with these mass shooters, especially when it comes to school shootings, that there were warning signs that either were ignored or overlooked or not taken as seriously," said Cranford.

Mental health and students struggling with the feeling of hopelessness have prompted schools to focus on counseling, while its a good start, Cranford said school districts and law enforcement need to know how to do a threat assessment. "Have a threat assessment team program, and then all the stakeholders in that community come together, mental health, law enforcement, probation, all those need to come together and come up with a plan so that once we have that person identified, we have a way of managing them," said Cranford.

And students are usually the first ones to see warning signs. Cranford said a school texting system, where students can report concerns is a great start.