East Lansing Schools Experience Brief "Secure in Place"

Parents of children in the East Lansing Public Schools were notified by email today of a "secure in place" order occurring throughout the district. Residents subscribed to the local emergency notification system, NIXLE, were also alerted. The order began at 11:45 am and lasted for about 45 minutes.

Just after the "secure in place" order ended, I spoke to Lt. Steve Gonzalez of the East Lansing Police Department (ELPD). He said that there had been "a very general and unspecified threat" made, and information about the threat was passed by the MSU Police to ELPD. "Out of an abundance of caution," Gonzalez told me, "we notified the East Lansing Public Schools and the decision was made to place the public school buildings under a 'secure in place' order, which allows them to continue with daily business." Gonzalez added that ELPD "assigned an officer to each building as a visible deterrent."

According to ELPD, "an individual suspected of making the threat was taken into custody at approximately 12:25 pm by the MSU Police Department." At that point, the "secure in place" order was ifted.

I asked Gonzalez to remind our readers what a "secure in place" order means. He answered, "Nobody comes in and nobody goes out of the buildings unless there is an absolute emergency." He noted it is different from an external lockdown "where the kids would be hunkered down and instruction would stop until the threat has passed. 'Secure in place' allows teachers to keep teaching and office staff to go about their day."

ELPD recommends that residents of East Lansing sign up for the NIXLE emergency communication system. You can register at this link: https://local.nixle.com/register/

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