Despite “extensive safety and security protocols,” Laura McQuade, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said there will be a full review of security protocols in the wake of the Colorado Springs shooting.
McQuade said the current procedures and protocols potentially saved lives on Friday when a gunman killed 3 people and injured 9 others.
“The only good thing I can say that can come out of an event like this is you can learn. Learn how to be safer. Learn how to detect certain things sooner. So I can assure that there will be a full review of our security protocols across the country, not just here, and we will do whatever it takes to upgrade those standards,” said McQuade.
McQuade said Planned Parenthood’s Overland Park clinic is staffed with security guards and a full time security director. The only Kansas City metro Planned Parenthood to offer abortion procedures also has bulletproof glass and a lobby security system to protect patients and employees inside.
Everyone that comes through the door is screened by a metal detection system.
“This facility itself sustained significant damage,” said McQuade, referring to a 2002 shooting where at least fourteen bullets pierced the facility.
McQuade said the recent string of crimes against Planned Parenthood locations can partially be blamed on politicians.
“What’s really changed is the really vitriolic rhetoric that we’re hearing from a small group of extreme politicians and they, they have to take responsibility for some of this violence,” said McQuade.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.
