Critical Incident Manual - Ministry of Education

Guidelines for Developing a Critical Incident Management Plan for a Safe School EnvironmentIncident: KidnappingPotential OutcomesCarried away, being held hostage for a ransom, beatings and physical damage, torture ordeath.Should a kidnapping occur, the police should be informed immediately. All actions thatcould result in death or physical injury should be avoided and students and staff kept as calmas possible.Pre-plan Action• Encourage students to be mindful of strangers on the school compound and to alertthe school authorities.• Students should use the designated holding areas while waiting on their parents orother designated individual to pick them up.• Students should be clear on who has permission to pick them up and with whom theycommute regularly.• Persons entering and leaving the school compound should state categorically whothey are there to see and the department they are going to, especially during theschool period. If they fail to provide adequate information concerning who they aregoing to visit or why they are going to that individual at this time, and how long theyplan to stay, they should be denied entry to the school property.• Maintain zero tolerance of persons that need to visit students during class time.• Remove all strange persons from the school compound by force if necessary – usingsecurity personnel and back-up from the police if needed.• Parents and other persons who have emergencies which could necessitate the earlyremoval of a child/children from school should follow the standard procedure (schoolrules). If they are unable to give details of their child’s class, class location and classteacher they should be denied entry to the school.• Children whose parents are separated or are going through a divorce procedure withexisting custody problems should notify the school for the child’s safety.Immediate Action• Alert someone to what is happening.• If violently threatened during kidnapping while beckoning to someone, continue andbe louder and more determined.• Try to create a scene and escape.• If you suspect that the kidnapper is working with other accomplices in proximity,scream out what is going on, dial 119, put the speaker on low and leave the line open.Ministry of Education 2007 / 78