Officials outline safety plans following gun incident at Canyon View High
Mar 7, 2023, 2:00 PM
Canyon View High School in Cedar City is pictured on Wednesday April 7, 2021. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
CEDAR CITY, Utah — Cedar City Police and the Iron County School District have outlined new plans to improve school safety, following a highly criticized response to an incident at Canyon View High School last week.
The joint statement outlining new plans comes after public outcry in regard to a Feb. 27 incident at Canyon View High.
Police initially stated a former student pointed a gun at four current students.
The suspect left but was able to come back an hour later and allegedly assaulted another student.
The school was not locked down until the next day when police issued a warrant at the suspect’s nearby home.
Cedar City Police Sgt. Justin Ludlow told KSL NewsRadio about the incident saying, “there was a delay or some misunderstanding of exactly everything that was going on.”
Ludlow said they need probable cause or suspicion to act, and at the time, they did what they did based on the information given to them.
“Once we were able to confirm there was some form of evidence or proof of something going on…we were able to take action,” Ludlow said.
In regards to when they communicate with parents, Ludlow said once they have probable cause, they then need to secure the situation, then communicate with parents.
He also said he hopes parents would understand that they don’t want to incriminate someone without evidence.
Part of the new school safety plan includes clearer and earlier with parents, as well as a similar goal for resource officers and school officials.
It also includes a plan to:
- Review safety and security policies.
- Review coordination between schools and their resource officers.
- Hire a district safety and security specialist.
- Build fences around elementary schools.
- Install keyless entry on all school doors.
- Install secure vestibules at all schools.
