National Police Association Podcast

Betsy Smith: 00:07

Hi. This is sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith with the National Police Association, and this is the National Police Association podcast. Well, you know, I love to bring on my brothers and sisters who have, spent time in the law enforcement profession and then have moved on to other things. And I have a guest today who, who probably could be sitting on the couch or sitting on a beach or something, but he has decided to, go head first into a a business and into the training side of something that is of concern to, I think, everyone. And that is how do we manage things like active shooter, large scale incidents, and more.

Betsy Smith: 00:58

And he has, he has a fascinating background, first of all. He does a lot of training, and he's also part of a company that I think has some real solutions. So I thought you needed to meet him. Scott Lowry, welcome to the show.

Scott Lowry: 01:15

See, thank you for having me. It's good to see you again.

Betsy Smith: 01:18

Hey. So, of course, I have to ask you, why did you become a cop?

Scott Lowry: 01:25

That's an interesting question. Well, first of all, it it's it's pretty easy because my father was was a cop. My pops was a cop in in Lima, Ohio, West Central part of Ohio. And I, you know, I grew up watching him in that environment. He was he was a detective and and, you know, how we look at at at our parents and and, honestly, is that I grew up in the seventies and and how law enforcement was was perceived at at that point.

Scott Lowry: 01:56

And and so it was like, I think that's what I wanna do. And by the time I was 14 years old, I decided that that's what I was going to do. I went in the army and spent four years in the army in the infantry, had a lot of fun, got out, and and immediately went to, started going to to college, to university to create to get a criminal justice degree. While I was going to college is that, one of the communities just north of us was having a civil service desk. And so I went up and took the civil service desk because I thought it would be good practice.

Scott Lowry: 02:37

And lo and behold, I got hired. And and so, yeah, I I spent twenty five years in in the Findlay, Ohio Police Department. Had a phenomenal career, quite honestly. Very blessed is that I retired at the rank of lieutenant. During my law enforcement career, got to do a lot of cool cop stuff, you know, banging doors and doing narcotics investigations and and and working with with a lot of of of great people from different agencies around the region.

Scott Lowry: 03:08

And so, it was it was a lot of fun. It honestly was. I I will say this to the day today, even in today's world. I believe being a street cop is the best job in America. Is it tough?

Scott Lowry: 03:23

Yeah. It's tough. But the opportunities that are presented to you for engaging with the community, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but it's a different day every day. And not many people can say that about their job is that every day you go into work, it's not even going to be close to what yesterday was. So I

Betsy Smith: 03:47

I love that you said that because that's what I tell people all the time. I never had the same day twice. And I really think there are very few professions that can say that. What would you say to young people who are looking at the current atmosphere, and they're they're like, well, I'm thinking about being a cop, but but I don't know. There's a lot of negativity.

Betsy Smith: 04:09

What would you say to those young people?

Scott Lowry: 04:12

I would say that there there's a couple of things. And and this is, this is coming from my father, is that, number one, don't listen to the outside noise. Alright? Is that and and he also said this, is that go in every day, do your job, do it to the best of your ability. Don't worry about what lawyers and judges do after the fact.

Scott Lowry: 04:34

Alright? Is that you can't control that. It it's it's about realizing that not only are you providing a service to the community, because I truly believe that, is that it it it is a service that you are providing. You are you are there for people that are in crisis, and and and be unable to provide that service. But it's it's just the the the ability to, be free thinking is that we we we place that upon our our law enforcement in this country is that we provide guidelines, guardrails, as I like to say, in which they are to operate, but there's no mandates on specifically what you're going to do and how you're going to do it every every day.

Scott Lowry: 05:21

And and so is that just looking at it from making sure that you keep an open mind and and and don't let the negativity consume you, whether it's the negativity in front of you or or what is going on nationally, in regards to the law enforcement community. I I think if if the job is right for you, it's not right for everyone. But if the job is right for you is that if you take that philosophy, you're gonna absolutely love your career. Absolutely love it.

Betsy Smith: 05:57

Yeah. I I couldn't agree more. Scott, you and I were both on the job when, the Columbine High School in Lakewood, Colorado occurred. Now that was, you know, it wasn't certainly wasn't the first school shooting. In fact, I was a, I was a young cop when, the kind of the first school shooting that came to people's consciousness,

Scott Lowry: 06:21

the the

Betsy Smith: 06:21

Lori Dan shooting in the Chicago area happened. But, know, we didn't have twenty four seven cable news and all of that. So Columbine was something that the American public and law enforcement around the country watched unfold in real time, and that absolutely changed our profession, didn't it?

Scott Lowry: 06:44

Absolutely. Is that, I remember that day, honestly, is that is we were sitting in roll call that that evening after watch all of a sudden been at home that day and watched it happen. And we were like, I don't know if we'd done anything different than what they did, but it didn't feel right. Is that the the officers in Jefferson County, Colorado that day did it by the book. That was the way that we did business then.

Scott Lowry: 07:19

And and it was a hallmark event where the law enforcement community says we've got to do more. And and that really was that that progression that we have seen in this country, a little bit slower than a lot some of us would like, but there has been this progression where we have gotten better at at responding to these events. But it was it was absolutely a game changer. Absolutely.

Betsy Smith: 07:43

It really was. And and it has progressed, to to now, to 2025 where, we're we're still we're a lot better. You know? We're getting to to, whether it's a school shooting or workplace violence, whatever you wanna call it. We're getting there, you know, whether it's one officer going in or a little ad hoc team of two or three.

Betsy Smith: 08:06

You know, we're we're doing it very differently. We're moving as fast as we can toward that threat. But there's a whole lot more to a a an attack on a school or a workplace violence situation then getting in the door and eliminating the threat isn't there.

Scott Lowry: 08:27

Yeah. There is. And and that's kinda where that you know, we talk about Hallmark events. That was a Hallmark event in in in my career is that, within our own community, we had worked really hard in regards to making sure that our cops were prepared to go in and find that threat, neutralize that threat, understanding how how difficult that is, that that process. And and we worked with the school staff, and we were focusing on the schools at that time.

Scott Lowry: 08:56

And we worked with the school staff, and it was to the point where I was comfortable with what their capabilities were, not subject matter experts in regards to responding to violence. So is that that's not possible with that, you know, with with what I call normal human beings. Cops and firefighters were not normal. Alright? But everybody else is normal.

Scott Lowry: 09:19

And and and so I but it just felt like there was something else that we needed to do. And and so I I started researching is active shooter response, and this was probably 02/2010, '2 thousand '11 time frame. And and there was starting to be this evolution of what we call the rescue task force concept. And it was it was taking all of those community resources, law enforcement, fire, EMS, and and and having this this this collaborative effort in regards to responding to these events. And and it really was a slap in the face to me is that we've got to do more than find the threat and neutralize the threat.

Scott Lowry: 10:01

What what's after that? And I've I've adopted what I call the five plus one philosophy. And and what that is is the first five minutes of an active shooter is the law enforcement coppers go in, find bad guy, neutralize bad guy. Right? And and but it's that one minute after that, in that infinite one minute of everything that we have to do as a community to be able to save lives inside the building because there are so much more that has to be done.

Scott Lowry: 10:32

And and that's why that that that collaboration is important with with getting fire and EMS into that building as quickly as possible, subject matter experts on providing medical care and and getting them to those that are wounded so that we can increase survivability. And and when you start looking at the science behind gunshot wounds, is that the quicker we can get to them, the quicker we can get them to a hospital, the more likely they are to survive. And and so that's really what that that coordinated response concept is all about, is is is minimizing the chaos. That's the way I like to put it. I can't eliminate the chaos in in a situation like that.

Scott Lowry: 11:15

But if we can minimize it, is that we're we're we're increasing our capabilities as a community at that point.

Betsy Smith: 11:24

And, you know, when you and I were, young young cops, it was very different. You know? We didn't go in, like we did. And when we did get there, you know, most of us didn't even have we didn't carry any kind of a tourniquet or a first aid kit or any of that. In fact, in the eighties, you know, tourniquets were were bad.

Betsy Smith: 11:42

Cops were told, don't touch them. You're gonna you're gonna kill somebody or cut their leg off or whatever, including your own. That has also evolved to the point where, police officers are now much more well versed in what we call, you know, tactical medicine, tac med. We we all carry something, you know, a little bit of a a lease, a tourniquet, and some clotting agent, things like that. But when you're talking that huge coordination between, police and fire and others, on TV, Scott, they're all together.

Betsy Smith: 12:19

And in fact, it like, on TV, they're all married to each other and all that, and they all talk all the time, and they're all on the same radio, and they all go to the same hospital, and, and their stations are next door to each other. And so that's not hard on TV. Talk to us about reality.

Scott Lowry: 12:37

Reality is is that none of that is true. It's it's in in short order. None of that is true. Is that, you know, is that especially when we're talking about an active shooter event. Alright?

Scott Lowry: 12:49

We're gonna we're gonna focus on that. Is that, when when that event happens, is the it's what I call the cavalry. The cavalry is coming. Alright? Law enforcement, fire, EMS, everybody's got these the this this idea of going to the building and and saving lives.

Scott Lowry: 13:08

And and, you know, a vast majority of the communities across America, the police department within that community isn't big enough to be able to handle this event on their own. So there's other secondary law enforcement that are coming. So there's there's everybody within a region is responding to this one particular building. And and that's not an exaggeration. It's that we end up with hundreds of of emergency vehicles at these events.

Scott Lowry: 13:38

And what happens is that we end up with 52 police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances parked in front of the school building, and it doesn't minimize the chaos at all. And when you talk about emergency services working in concert with one another, not in the real world. Is that fire's doing their thing, cops are doing their thing, and and maybe once in a while, we come together. But it's it's like oil and water when when cops are shoulder to shoulder with firefighters in a particular event, especially if they've not been trained. There's no training to reinforce those actions that we want them to take.

Scott Lowry: 14:21

So there's it's it's it is interesting to communities when they start to learn that there are these hurdles that are involved in in emergency services all working together in regards to a particular incident? Is it you know, at the end of the day, it's all about preparing. You know? Is it you know, we we talk about writing policies and having protocols and calls and and all of those things. That's the easy part.

Scott Lowry: 14:54

The preparedness is our ability to implement what is on paper. And and, you know, there has to be that that training, that that mutual or that, interagency training that has to occur for us to be able to to accomplish large scale being able to respond to large scale critical incidents.

Betsy Smith: 15:14

So how do you accomplish that? And I wanna talk about the organization you're involved in. How do you accomplish that with not just police, fire, and EMS, but also with, the educational staff and and ultimately, the the parents? I mean, how does a community come together? Because, again, I don't I don't know that people understand that most police departments most police departments are less than 10 officers.

Betsy Smith: 15:41

But, you know, most communities and most, public safety agencies are not LAPD and NYFD and all of that. So how do you propose that we coordinate and plan so that if the unthinkable happens, we're really ready.

Scott Lowry: 16:04

I think it had there there's really three phases of it, Betsy, to be honest with you, is that, you know, there's a old military, mindset of training as crawl, walk, and run. And and that that crawl piece is is that we as a community identified that there's this gap, that that we are not prepared to be able to respond in in a coordinated, effort. And so we we start training to that is that educating our cops and firefighters on what it is that we want them to do. And then putting that that process within incident action plan is that articulating what our objectives are, what are our primary initial responsibilities going to be for each each agency and each, honestly, each in, organization, each entity, what it is that they're going to do so that when we arrive at this building is that there there's a lot of moving parts to it, but everybody knows what their responsibilities are as opposed to everybody showing up and then trying to decide what it is that we want them to do. So is that that that so training, education, creating the plan, and then training to that plan again.

Scott Lowry: 17:27

And and, you know, tabletop exercises are a great tool that that, StrataCyte has the ability to be used for. And and for anybody that doesn't have tabletop exercise, just simply getting into a room with decision makers, and we play a scenario out and and and they make decisions based on the dynamics of that situation. And it allows everybody in the room to have an understanding of what the other parties are going to do. And and a a ton of value comes from those those kinds of exercises. And and so when when we start doing that, having that that that that mindset of how we're going to progress as a community, is that then that enhances that capability like I talked about before.

Betsy Smith: 18:15

Do you bring engagement. Do you bring dispatch into this, into these scenarios and all of that?

Scott Lowry: 18:23

Yeah. Is that, you know, is through a critical incident that happens at a community is that everybody's dialing 911. So that that 911 becomes the hub for all information, information coming in and information going out to those responding agencies. So is the if we are able to put this incident action plan in front of the dispatch so that as they're sending resources, they're advising those resources on on on what task, what responsibilities, what assignments they need to have, then then then they become the the quarterback of of where those resources get deployed. So you know?

Scott Lowry: 19:11

And and communication is important Is that, you know, when we look at operations that have failed in this country, quite honestly, from a law enforcement, military perspective, communication is almost the number one reason why those operations failed. And so knowing that, let's let's figure out what that communication piece is going to look like. And I think that we've accomplished that. StrataCyte has from our perspective is that there's a a platform out there called RapidSOS, which is in a a vast majority of the nine one one centers across America. And it it it's a platform that really takes all the tools of the nine one one center and puts them on one screen.

Scott Lowry: 19:53

Alright? Pretty simplified example, but but that's really what it is. And now is that we're putting all of that information that dispatchers need, though, and right in front of their face on that screen. So they don't have to go to different applications or different, software to find what it is that they're supposed to be doing. So that that relationship that we have created has 100% enhanced the the capabilities of those communities that utilize StratoCyte.

Scott Lowry: 20:24

So, you know, just think about it from from, I look at 50,000 feet. Alright? Let's look at this event at a high level and a wide angle lens, however you wanna put it, and and what is it that we need to do. And so, yeah, nine one one center is important. And, you know, I was gonna say is that that engagement with parents is is, I think, is critical.

Scott Lowry: 20:48

I I say this is the schools do not do a good job of educating parents on what the capabilities are of the school. And in 02/2025, the anxiety level of parents is off the charts in regards to sending their children to school. And and and rightfully so is that so as a school district, as a community, I law enforcement and fire, I think we should engage with parents more about what is it that we're doing. What how are we being proactive in making sure that you're building it that build school building is safe. Alright?

Scott Lowry: 21:27

All these prevention measures are going into place. Alright? And on top of that is that we've got this this plan that if the unthinkable does happen, we're gonna be prepared, and we're we're gonna save lives. That that's the reality of it, is that the better we respond, the more likely we are going to save the lives inside that building. And and so, you know, that it's it's it's an community effort, truly a community effort.

Betsy Smith: 21:56

You know, I'm so glad you said that and used that word because after school shootings, we see those communities come together, which is fantastic. But I it sounds like what you guys are trying to do is get the community to come together before something happens. Am I right about that?

Scott Lowry: 22:15

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, is it I I Monday morning quarterback critical incidents in this country, specifically school school shootings. And and, you know, because I think that there's value to finding mistakes that are made in one community.

Scott Lowry: 22:36

Right? May maybe they weren't negligent, but mistakes were made, and educating another community on what those mistakes were. This community made a mistake. Let's make sure you don't make the same one. And and if we start having those conversations and and really opening up the book and and having honest conversations about what it is we're doing and how we're doing it, then then there's some value there as as as a nation, quite honestly, and and minimizing the impact that these events have on on our communities as a whole.

Betsy Smith: 23:15

You know, if somebody is watching this or listening to this and they're they're thinking, I wanna I wanna talk to my police department about this, or I wanna talk to my school board about this or my superintendent of schools, what can they do?

Scott Lowry: 23:28

What can they do is that if number one is that they can reach out to me at at StrataSite. Alright? And I can facilitate that conversation. You know? If they're not comfortable having those conversations with with local law enforcement or the school board or the superintendent, is they reach out to me, and I'd be more than happy to provide them some insight on on things to say or be part of that conversation.

Scott Lowry: 24:00

Look, Betsy, I will say this, is that at at StrataCyte, I'm in the business of selling my incident action plans, but I'm also an advocate for communities doing everything that we can to keep our babies safe. Right? Is it that they are the most important things in our lives. And and as communities, we need to do everything we possibly can to keep our babies safe. So I'm I'm 100% will help in any way, shape, or form, to to accomplish that mission.

Betsy Smith: 24:38

It doesn't get any better than that, and it doesn't get any more clear than that, Scott. Where can people find StrataCyte? Where can they find you? Where can they learn more?

Scott Lowry: 24:49

Absolutely. StrataCyte is StrataCyte, s t r a t a s I t e, dot I o, is is our website. Google it is is probably may be the easiest way to do that. And on top of that is that, I'm also the lead trainer for two department of homeland security courses in regards to crisis management for schools. And this is a course that is free of charge to communities.

Scott Lowry: 25:14

Free is good. And they can find those classes at ruraltraining.org, r u r a l training Org. And, I'd be more than happy to have a conversation with with communities about bringing that training. It's all things school safety, to to their communities.

Betsy Smith: 25:33

Scott Lowery, I don't think that there's a more important topic that we could be talking about right now than this one, and we really appreciate you taking some time out of your day, to talk to us more about it. So we thank you for having, for having the time and the passion to help keep our school kids and our workplaces safe. And if you would like more information about the National Police Association, visit us at nationalpolice.org.

Narrator: 26:03

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Narrator: 26:41

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