Oakland County will issue a request for proposals by mid-September to find companies capable of conducting an independent review of emergency response efforts following the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, a county spokesman said Tuesday.
The announcement comes after the Detroit News reported earlier this month on questions about possible delays in response to the Nov. 30, 2021 mass shooting that left four students dead and seven others injured.
“Oakland County has initiated the process of engaging an independent firm to conduct a comprehensive After Action Review (AAR) of the response to the tragic shooting at Oxford High School,” spokesman William Mullan said in his statement. “County Executive Dave Coulter, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners David T. Woodward and Sheriff Mike Bouchard are working together to ensure this critical review takes place.”
Mullan said the county commission will decide on the necessary funds on September 5.
“This AAR will involve all departments in the county and will be conducted transparently, in close collaboration and with input from families, the community and local first responders,” Mullan said.
This month, the news reported that two local fire chiefs said Oakland County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers took too long to call them to the scene of the shooting.
Woodward (D-Royal Oak) said he would seek funding to conduct the investigation in light of a Detroit News report that raised new questions about the response.
On Tuesday, Woodward said he plans to request $500,000 to fund the review and hopes to start bidding once the full board approves such a measure. He said it is not yet clear what the total cost of an AAR would be.
Woodward also said he is continuing to work on a formal plan that would include debriefings of all mass shootings in Oakland County. Woodward has said he wants all mass shootings to be independently investigated, including the June 15 mass shooting at a wading pool in Rochester Hills that left nine people injured.
“We just want to make sure we do it right and get all the information we need to better respond to these tragic events when they occur,” he said.
In separate allegations, Oxford Fire Chief Matthew Majestic and Addison Fire Chief Jerry Morawski told The News that they dispatched their own crews when the high school was attacked on Nov. 30, 2021. Their concerns prompted victims’ families to again call for a so-called “after action review,” as has been done in other school shootings across the country.
The News also reported that Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard declined to participate in such a review, as requested by County Coulter’s office in January.
Coulter had initiated and supported the investigation, which is typically conducted by an outside agency to gain insight into the actions of the coordinating police agency and its partners in the event of a mass shooting.
