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Photograph by Leigh Ann Maze
Deputy Noah Brommeland and Sgt. Nick Perusina, partners in the creation of the school site survey program, share a laugh outside the sheriff's department Westside Substation in Saratoga.
Computer will map out schools for emergencies
By Leigh Ann Maze
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department will soon be better prepared to respond to school emergencies, such as earthquakes, gas leaks, campus intruders or worse-case scenarios like school shootings. Sgt. Nick Perusina and Deputy Noah Brommeland at the Westside Substation in Saratoga are developing a first-of-its-kind computer program that will aid in the department's school emergency response. In the wake of the Columbine tragedy and other school emergencies across the country, Westside Substation commander, Captain Jeff Miles put Sgt. Perusina and Deputy Brommeland to the task of preparing the Sheriffs Department for the worst. "We don't want anything bad to happen, but you have to be prepared for it," Perusina said. "If you're prepared for the worst it makes everything else easier to deal with."
The two have amassed critical information a sheriff's deputy might need when responding to a school emergency into an easy-to-use computer program that operates like a website on an internet browser like Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.
Perusina and Brommeland have been working on the project since November using Prospect High School as a prototype. The school site survey program, as it is called, contains maps and photos of school grounds, administrators' names and phone numbers from the superintendent to the custodian, utilities locations, staging locations for paramedics, fire units and emergency operation centers, exit routes for staff and children and the best ways to re-route traffic. Details, such as the locations of doors and windows on all buildings and which way they open, are included should the officer need the information.
"In the event of a critical incident, precious time and department resources will not be spent gathering information; it will be readily available," Brommeland said. The program is stored on a disk that can be up-loaded to deputies' laptop computers as well as in hard-copy in a binder, and will be updated several times a year. Sgt. Perusina expects the program to be in use by the end of the school year.
Sgt. Perusina came to the project with 25 years of experience in the Sheriff's Department and as a member of the Sheriff's Emergency Response Team. Deputy Brommeland, who has been a patrol deputy with the sheriff's department for 15 months, brings computer skills to the project from almost five years of computer communications experience in the Air National Guard, which he participates in one weekend per month. "We are absolutely amazed by this young mans' talent," Miles said.
Once the Prospect High school site survey is completed in the next few months, deputies will gather information from the 33 west side schools Perusina and Brommeland plan to include in the program, including 11 Saratoga schools and 16 Cupertino schools.
Although all sheriff's deputies are trained to respond to school emergencies on an individual basis, the school site-survey program will help responding deputies who may be unfamiliar with a campus, according to Perusina. "A lot of the decision making has already been done so implementation can start right away," Perusina said. Although the school site survey program will not provide for every possible scenario, it will provide a solid foundation of reliable information, Brommeland added.
Although students have reportedly brought guns and bombs to school campuses in Cupertino and Saratoga, there have never been any serious problems, according to Perusina. "We've been very lucky in Santa Clara County," Perusina said, attributing the low incidence of school violence to diligent staff members who spot troubled kids and situations and deal with them right away. Local schools are working with Perusina and Brommeland to coordinate their emergency response plans.
Eventually, Perusina said, the school site survey program can be used by other law enforcement agencies to prepare for emergencies not only in schools, but also in businesses, city and office buildings, and banks. "It allows us to be more proactive instead of just reactive to emergencies" Brommeland said.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
