DANIEL DLUZNESKI 15:15
No, that’s I agree with you. And it I’m hoping that the pendulum is swinging back to where not only the students can start trusting the police, but they can get the budget to bring the police in and the security officers that are armed a lot of times I’ve heard on some of my other security people on LinkedIn that they’ll have security officers here, but they won’t have guns.
CRISTINA ROSE 15:39
What’s the point of that?
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 15:41
Exactly! What’s the point of having them there in the first place? I know that that’s wrong. So yeah, that’s at least one point. The other point I wanted to make is like what you said, look, I don’t want our schools to be prisons, nobody wants that. However, there has to there have to be layers of security, starting with special resource officers, locking the doors, you know, have fencing, I mean, something that will slow down that active shooter till the good guys get there. And again, like you would say, look, if someone is, excuse me, hell-bent on coming in and creating chaos, they’re going to do it, nothing’s gonna stop them, it’s not going to stop them. Our job as safety and security is to slow them down enough that you have enough time for the good guys to get there.
CRISTINA ROSE 16 : 36
So take them out.
DANIEL DELUZNESKI 16 : 37
Exactly. So, these resource officers do have enough training to do that. So yes, I agree with you on that point.
CRISTINA ROSE 16:40
Yeah, no, I just say, it’s a scary world, there’s so much mental illness going on. And people are like losing their minds, and they want to harm others, because they’re unhappy. I mean, it’s just a crazy world we live in. I just can’t, it is scary, like taking your kids out there. And you think they’re at the safe place at school, but you just never know what that day is gonna bring. So I think it’s really important that, you know, we have people like you who have this book, the first five minutes, school shooting Survival Guide for Administrators and teachers. And I think it’s also a good tool for parents to have as well to read and then educate your child as well. And talk about it at home, and what to do and a, life threatening situation. How can people find this book? Where can they purchase it at?
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 17:33
I’ve got on Amazon, it’s by both hardcover and the Kindle version. And my last name is weird. But if you punch in just the first five minutes, it will come up in the in-search engine, and you’d be able to purchase it. And again, for me, I didn’t write the book to make money. Obviously, I wrote the book for awareness, just for something very simple. Because I’ll tell you, when I would go to the schools, you would have books like two- or 300-page book, well, that was on a shelf. In order for the teachers to quickly see something what I did was within the book, you can get not you get I put in a plan, they call it they kind of make fun of a call a plan. And it can, it’s just a generic blank plan, emergency plan. However, also, you can download in there. And again, this is mostly for teachers, administrators. It’s a credit card size reference card. And it’s just the size of a credit card. And on there, it’s going to list what you know. And what do you do to an active shooter? What do you do in this? I mean, it’s a tiny print, obviously. But I found out and this I just found this out recently, a doctor friend of mine said, oh, yeah, we use those cards all the time, because there’ll be an emergency, it’ll be a code purple. They’re like, What the hell, I don’t remember what a cold purple is, and they gotta check the card. I said, You guys have reference cards? Like, oh, yeah, I mean, ballers out there. So for something like this, because I’ll tell you, I went through 911 at the White House, and I had the training. But if something like this happened to any normal person, I want to say, You don’t know what you’re gonna do, you’re gonna freeze up, you’re gonna forget what day it is. Blank, and you’re gonna be like, What do I do? And I said, Okay, mostly everybody wears a lanyard with either their ID on it or their copier card on it. This little card, just attach it look, oh, gosh, I forgot to turn the lights off, or I forgot something. Go back to the reference card. So and the reason again, and again, I know it’s hard, but I like to have drills more frequently then every quarter or every six months. I mean, we do fire drills once a month. And it’s kind of ridiculous. I always argue with our fire marshal, like, what the hell when’s the last time we had a fire to school? It hurt me, but I mean, like, what, 100 years ago, they’d have fires anymore is all sprinkler systems. You’ve got our long, more three hour long doors and walls that protect you. And yet, you know, you do a fire drill once a month. It’s like we do your kindergarten, active shooter drills. Oh, yeah, we’ll do that, you know, three months from now or whatever. And then you usually don’t run it properly and they’re still using codes. Christina, come on, I’m not gonna go into school and hear a code read by your code, read one book tour, I’m gonna go ballistic. You don’t use codes anymore. Just plain language. That’s it. We’re in a lockdown. Don’t use codes anymore. If you’re a parent, you’re using a code speaker. Because if you got somebody that has no idea what a code read is they probably something bad, but you don’t know what it is. Yeah, use plain language. So people know what’s going on. I had it’s in the book, I had a little funny story. I had an elementary school. And this was when I first got on the job. And OCONUS elementary school and I said, Okay, I said, let’s pretend that I’m a shooter, and I’m coming in to your school. It’s just what do you do? Well, the first thing we would do is make an announcement. Good. Go ahead and make the announcement. So they make the announcement. The announcement was the pony is being delivered today. And I’m just looking at that like, what did what did you say? Why not? Because they wanted to make it nice and fluffy and and very, you know, so they don’t panic. Anyone sort of kids doesn’t get all panicky and stuff. And like, what if I’m a kid, I’m like, delivering a pony. All right let’s go. So, I was like, no. What do you if there’s someone there has no idea what that is like, oh, they’re delivering a pony today. Okay. I mean, if you’ve got maintenance workers outside people, parents are like, What the heck is that mean? That was the funniest and dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I said, no, you no longer don’t use anything weird. Just plain language.
CRISTINA ROSE 21:32
Just be like Frank and blunt about what’s really happening. We got a tutor on the campus locked down.
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 21:40
You’re not going to scare these kids. Because I tell you what, these kids are not naive. I mean, we’re talking kindergarten first graders. Okay. But I’ve had fourth and fifth graders that know what’s going on. I had an incident at an elementary school, where the principal decided, he was going to trick them. And it was a school and open schools. So he goes out into the courtyard during the drill during an active shooter drill, and he has a megaphone, and he says, It’s okay, everybody, it’s all over. Let’s go back to class, like, come on out. Everything’s okay. And the regular teachers did the right thing. They stayed in their lockdown to substitute teachers like, okay, we’re back to class and the kids jumped up immediately. It’s a trick, it’s a trick you’re not supposed to come out. So these kids know what’s going on. And I want to one other point. I mean, I know we’ve got a short amount of time. But I’d say a lot. Some of the parents feel that their children are being traumatized by these drills. Now, I disagree with that. Because when I was a kid, I went through the drills of you know, we went through the Cuban Missile Crisis, and we had to go out in the hallway and cover it and duck and cover and stuff like that. And we didn’t think anything like that. We’re just like, we thought it was just a way to get out of class is great. Okay,
CRISTINA ROSE 22:53
That’s it, I would think to every time, like, Oh, yeah.
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 22:57
Yeah, you want to have fun. So this idea that they’re going to be traumatized by this drill. To me, it’s kind of ridiculous. I don’t like announced drills only because what happens is, you pre plan, you’re already turned the lights off, you put the thing on there, you turn your phone off, so you can get as minimum amount of time and the drill and get it over with that was the idea that just getting it over with and no, that’s not the idea. The idea is to find things that go wrong and fix them. That’s why we drill.
CRISTINA ROSE 23:28
I like that idea that spontaneous, like don’t announce that there’s a drill, like, surprise them, because that’s how it’s gonna be in real life. It’s gonna be, you’re not going to know and like you said previously, you forget, you kind of go blank. You’re like, oh, man, what’s going on? So I totally agree.
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 23:45
Yes, So I not on what I would tell parents is not only check with what’s going on at your school, talk to your children, find out what kind of drills they’re running, how often, and if they’re running them properly. I mean, I’ve had when I first came on, I’ve had schools make an announcement. We’re in a lockdown, drill, tick, tick, tick, they would wait 10 minutes, okay, drill over. That was it. That was their drill. And I’m like, No, you fail. This is the way we’re going to do it from now on. So find out how they run their drill, talk to your children. And I would emphasize to ask them drill more often because you want those teachers to have that confidence, that as soon as something like that happens, they’re immediately clicks in their head. Oh, yeah, I remember my training. This is what I got to do. So it’s again, I empathize, excuse me with these teachers on the job that they do, but I tell you, it’s, I’m very proud of that. Especially teachers down here where I am and where my son goes to school. He tells me Yeah, they just still do option drills. Okay? As long as they do lock downs also, I’m happy.
CRISTINA ROSE 24:58
Well, I have got four questions, I’d love to ask you and get to know your answer. So my first question is who and what inspires you?
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 25:08
Who inspires me now? I would say, as my wife, she’s a doctor. And she runs her own business. And she’s in something called Functional Medicine, which I had. What is that? I have no idea what that is. And she explained it to me. And probably because what you say inspires, she affects my health. I had no idea that I was gluten sensitive. I had no idea that I had some other issues with my health, and she’s changed my diet and changed my health. So for much better, so definitely, right now, it’s my wife who inspires me.
CRISTINA ROSE 25:42
I Love that answer. And then my second question is, What is something you wish you knew when you were younger?
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 25:48
Oh, there’s so many things. Oh, I don’t know if it’s something I wish. But, if I was, you know, that the kind of question to turn around and say, What would I say to my younger self? You know, because some people have regrets whether it’s relationship regrets, or whether it’s career regrets, or something along those lines. Something I wish that I had known? I really don’t know I had, you know, when you think about it, when you really think about it, I’m pretty grateful to be where I am. My dad died when I consider now relatively young, aged 76. He had Parkinson’s disease. My mom has dementia. So at this point, I’d have to say that I’m just grateful to be where I am at this point.
CRISTINA ROSE 26:45
Yeah, No, that’s a great answer. And then my third question is, what’s the essential part of your daily routine?
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 26:53
Well, I’m retired I, well, I take that back. I live, I’d say semi-retired. However, being an alpha personality, I can’t sit still. So I’m very fortunate to be in Florida, where the weather is always nice. So I exercise at least every day do something. I mean, I used to vigorously exercise. I mean, things happen, you start getting arthritis and things start hurting. So I’ll stop that and I’ll do these other things. But I will tell you, my wife, who is 15 years younger than me, is a tremendous athlete. She plays softball twice a week. And she plays basketball. She was on the basketball team in California. And her when she was younger, her high school team won the state championship in California was like a Hoosiers thing. So she says, Let’s go play basketball. I’m like, Oh my God, she’s a little thing. And I’m six foot four. we’re gonna play. And she’s a player. So I my knees are hurting. But boy, he runs circles around me. So yeah, it’s exercise, daily exercise, I still obviously have my son that I take back and forth to school, and he’s into his projects. Again, I still try to stay up on the safety and security. It’s not 24/7. For me, it’s just something that I’ve been concerned about, you know, since I got out of Secret Service, and I say, You know what? I’ll also do some side notary work, so I try to keep busy.
CRISTINA ROSE 28:17
Well, that’s good. Your wife seems super cool. Awesome. She does a lot of things. So my last question is the best advice you’ve ever received.
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 28:28
Ever received a lot of advice. Robert, it you know, I thought back on this when you questioned it earlier. And I was the first in my family to go to college. And I remember one of my dad’s best friends just came up to me said, look, just be yourself. Don’t be someone else. You know, be a leader, if you can be a follower, if you want to, but just be yourself. And I went away for I was I grew up in Connecticut, and I went to school in Illinois. It was a long way away from home for the first time again, yeah, I was in the boy scouts. You’d go for a weekend and stuff. But this was like, Look, you know, can’t go home for the weekends doesn’t work that way when you’re 2000 miles away or whatever. So that was probably at that time. Probably the best advice. You know, I got career advice, but that was probably the best advice I’ve gotten at that time.
CRISTINA ROSE 29:24
That’s great. Well, Daniel, thank you so much for coming on this week’s episode of Not Your Momma’s Podcast. I think it was such a fruitful conversation. And I hope that the audience took away some important key tools and information that they need to inform their children on how to be more safety in a life-threatening situation with an active shooter bomb threat etc. And all of Daniels information is down below in the show notes. Don’t be shy. Go say hi. I’ll also have the book link down there if you would like to get your hands on it. And thank you all for listening to this week’s episode. “Not Your Momma’s Podcast” and I hope to see you all in the next one thanks guys.
DANIEL DLUZNESKI 29 : 41
Thankyou Cristina.