By Jennifer Chambers
The Detroit News
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. — Oakland County officials are weighing bids from six risk management organizations vying to perform an independent review of the emergency response to the 2021 Oxford High School attack.
With a final decision to be made by the end of this month, the company hired by Oakland County will be tasked with conducting an after-action report of the police, fire, dispatch and emergency responses on Nov. 30, 2021, to the school where a student gunman killed four students and injured seven others.
Oakland County spokesman Bill Mullan said a five-member review committee of four county department heads and one outside expert are ranking the bidders according to overall qualifying factors and the county will begin negotiating with the top selection in coming days. Interviews began this week.
“When negotiations are complete, then they will enter into a contract. The goal is to complete this before the end of the calendar year,” Mullan said.
Bid proposals ranged from five to 103 pages in length. Estimates for the duration of work were between 12 weeks and six months and costs ranged from $62,700 to $497,000.
All of the companies have experience conducting after-action reviews and reports. In 2023, one of the bidders, Guidepost Solutions, performed an independent review of the attack for Oxford Community Schools, producing a 572-page report that focused on the role of school officials in the days leading up to and on the day of the attack.
In September, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved $500,000 for a third-party review of the emergency response to the attack after The Detroit News reported on questions by emergency responders over potential dispatch delays to the scene.
According to a board resolution, the commission is seeking “an unbiased analysis of the response and recovery efforts, including the coordination among law enforcement, emergency services and other stakeholders, and offer recommendations for improving safety measures, response and recovery protocols.”
Unlike other mass school shootings across the United States, no independent after-action review of the emergency response in Oxford has been conducted. A review is typically undertaken by an outside agency to learn from the actions taken by the coordinating police agency and its partners during a mass shooting incident.
Here is a summarized look at each company’s proposal:
Citadel Safety Group , based in Califorinia, estimates the review will take 12 weeks and include stakeholder engagement; data collection, document review, interviews and surveys; evaluation and reporting; gap analysis and recommendations; and final report delivery. Cost: $62,700. The company conducted an after-action report for Caravan Facilities Management in Saginaw to evaluate emergency response protocols in large-scale manufacturing environments. In another project, it delivered response evaluation and recommendations for General Motors’ Global Safety Program, addressing gaps in hazard communication, employee safety training, and emergency preparedness.
Centurion Solutions, based in Texas , estimates the review will take 20 weeks and be broken into three phases — initiating, developing and finalizing the AAR through the collection of information, interviews and meetings. Cost is $346,325. The company has developed after-action reports for the Texas Division of Emergency Management; Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force; North Central Texas Council of Governments; Alabama Center for Preparedness; Kentucky Community and Technical College System and Baylor University. It also developed AAR for an anthrax attack in Boca Raton, Fla. and after hurricanes Ike and Rita for the state of Texas.
CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis group in Virginia, estimates the review will take 15 weeks and include four phases — planning; data collection, reconstruction and analysis; report generation and a final report close-out. Cost: $463,026. The company says it has more than 80 years of experience in conducting reviews of emergency incidents, including AARs of responses to mass shootings at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023 and the 2017 Republican Congressional baseball practice; reviewing active shooter policy, practice, and training; and directing operational assessments of agency response and recovery efforts.
Guidepost Solutions, based in New York, estimates the review will take up to six months and would evaluate the effectiveness of the response and recovery efforts by all involved parties; focus on recovery efforts, including the mental health of the community and first responders; identify strengths and weaknesses in protocols, policies, procedures, and training; and provide actionable recommendations to enhance future preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Cost: $497,000. Guidepost Solutions is partnering with the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center (ALERRT) at Texas State University and Threat Suppression in its proposal. ALERRT was hired by Texas Department of Public Safety to complete an after-action report of the May 24, 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
National Policing Institute, based in Virginia, estimates the review will take nine months and would evaluate the response of all involved public safety agencies and identify strengths and weaknesses in the response efforts. The report will also provide actionable recommendations, categorized into short and long-term goals, to enhance the future preparedness of Oakland County. Cost: $336,594. Its past work includes after-action reviews of the 2017 shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla. at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice. It conducted an AAR, assessment, and analysis of the actions of the Los Angeles Police Department in response to First Amendment assemblies and protests in Los Angeles in 2020.
Security Risk Management Consults, based in Ohio, estimates the review will take about five months and will include best practices, mitigation efforts, emergency management protocols, and technology recommendations in line with existing industry standards and regulations. Cost: $327,920. It conducted an after-action review for Michigan State University for the mass shooting on Feb. 13, 2023. It was also hired by Ohio State University to conduct a review of the OSU Department of Public Safety’s response following the murder of an OSU student in an off-campus shooting outside a fraternity.
In August, the News reported that two area fire chiefs claimed that Oakland County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers took too long to call them to the scene of the shooting.
The News also reported that Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard’s office declined to participate in a third-party after-action review as requested by Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter’s office in January, according to Coulter’s spokesperson and an email from a county homeland security official. Coulter sought an independent review.
The Sheriff’s Office denied declining to participate in the third-party review. Maj. Christopher Wundrach, an executive commander for Bouchard, previously told The News the office and staff fully participated in an independent investigation undertaken by Guidepost Solutions in 2023. That review and its report, however, were limited to investigating the school district’s role and response to the attack, not emergency responders.
Bouchard has said his department will participate in the review sought by the Oakland County government.
Last month, Oxford families asked Attorney General Dana Nessel to launch a state-level investigation into the 2021 Oxford High School attack. Oxford families have called for a comprehensive examination of possible criminal conduct by school staff and failed policies that did not prevent the attack. They are demanding accountability, including criminal culpability of school employees.
Kimberly Bush, Nessel’s spokesperson, said on Wednesday conversations with the governor’s office and the Legislature remain ongoing.
“And we remain optimistic that we will have a response by year’s end,” Bush said. “With that said, it is our hope that the many elected officials who publicly called for the state to take on this endeavor are equally as committed to advocating for our office to be provided with the necessary resources to complete this additional review.”
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