‘What reassurance does a parent have?’

What plans do the Durango Police Department have in place for a school shooter situation? Will the DPD hold parents back as a lone gunman shreds a fourth grade classroom for 90 minutes as the cops did in Uvalde? Will the DPD wait hours as students bleed out and die as the cops did in Columbine? My child is the same age as the victims of the tragedy in Uvalde. Faith in law enforcement is at all time low in this country, and after the outright cowardice seen in Texas, that lack of faith is warranted.

The gun control argument is one that is so divisive that I and many others see no immediate solution. But what I can see is law enforcement being held accountable for lack of action in these events.

Maybe people in Durango don’t expect anything so horrific to touch our small town. Maybe they have fishbowl memories considering the tragedy in Aztec happened 45 minutes away and just five years ago. As a parent, I cannot simply grieve these tragedies and move on. I demand to know what would make our police force any different in these events. Am I placing my precious child’s life in the hands of emergency responders who will actually respond in the face of danger? Or just stand in the sun with their hands behind their backs?

Lyla Wortham

Durango