What are the Best Practices for Hardening School Entry Points?

Hardening school entry points involves a layered approach that focuses on the perimeter’s most vulnerable areas, such as doors, windows, and vestibules. According to Amarok Defense, the best practices for strengthening these areas include:

1. Applying security window film: Install high-tensile polyester laminate to ground-level glass panels and sidelights. This holds glass together upon impact, creating a breach barrier that can delay an intruder by 3 to 5 minutes. It is important to note that while this film delays entry, it is not bullet-resistant.
2. Upgrading exterior doors: Use doors with reinforced cores, heavy-duty locksets, and anti-pry hardware to resist physical attacks like kicking or levering.
3. Reinforcing door hardware: Strengthen frames and hinges using long screws anchored deep into the stud framing to ensure the locking mechanism does not fail under assault.
4. Implementing access control: Use electronic systems at main entrances that require credentials during school hours. This allows schools to funnel all visitors through a single, monitored check-in point.
5. Hardening classroom doors: Treat the classroom door as a primary defensive line by reinforcing door assemblies and applying security film to door vision panels, allowing teachers more time to execute lockdown protocols.
6. Conducting professional assessments: Utilize law-enforcement-led physical security assessments to identify specific campus vulnerabilities and ensure that all physical upgrades work in concert with electronic detection systems.