I just read your entire comment... so there are two chiefs, the Chief of the School District police force, and the Police Chief of the Uvaldi city police.
Which cops were at the school, then? Since there were more than 6, must have been the city police. So the Chief of the city police was in command? I never read that he changed the incident to a “barricaded subject”, I assume that info is now available. That is crazy, sounds like a fluster cluck of major proportions. Almost beyond belief, the parents knew what was happening.
Hmm, but now I R confused again:
” The chief had the incident command position because it was his school, he was the boss of the situation.” Which Chief was in command, then? And was he on site even?
When a mass casualty event happens, a call goes out to all LE in the area for “assistance.” Everyone (LE-wise) who can get there goes, STAT. That’s why the Border Patrol guys were there. There were cops there from lots of the surrounding cities and counties. It’s an “all hands on deck” situation.
Yes, there are two different Chiefs. In Texas, each school district has its own police force. So Chief Pete was in charge of the school. Wherever an “incident” happens, whoever is the chief of that area (city/town, township, county, state, fed) has command of that incident...unless s/he asks some other chief to be command except...some states (Michigan is one of them) where the Staties can roll in and take command, whether they are asked or not.
Chief Pete was not at the school when the incident started, but once he got there, he was in control. Wrong move, upon reflection. So, per everything they’ve been trained to believe, the officers had to let him call the game.
When the 19 officers were in the hall, for some reason, the Chief (Pete) decided that the shooter must be all done making people get dead (Thank you, Dan Bongino, for introducing that phrase. “Don’t get yourself dead!”) So he changed their gameplan to one for a barricaded suspect. That scenario calls for the officers on scene to hold their positions and wait for SWAT and negotiators to show up. The long delay was until the Border Patrol Spec Ops guys said, “we’re going.” Understand, while they were waiting in the hall, kids were inside the classroom...CALLING 911! and telling the dispatchers that there were still kids alive in there. That’s why the question arose if the chief even had a radio...if he did, did he miss the part where dispatch was reporting the phone calls?
I think I answered all your questions, but if I missed something, ask away. My MacBook has about 15 tabs open...I loved my legal research classes!