TPS Campus Police Chief Reacts To Florida School Shooting

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the students and the school because that's an unfortunate incident," said Matthias Wicks, Chief of the Tulsa Public Schools Campus Police Department.  "There's no need for any students to be afraid to be in school."

Hours after the deadly high school shooting near Miami, Florida, Chief Wicks stressed the importance of students speaking up.

"If you see something, hear something, by all means continue to say something and let's work together to keep everyone safe," said Wicks.

Wicks says that mentality has worked so far - that teachers and students are most helpful when it comes to investigating concerns in the district. 

"Continue to take ownership of your school," stated Wicks.  "Continue to take ownership in the safety of your school."

The chief wasn't able to go into specifics about what plans they have in place for an emergency of this scale, if it were to unfold here at home, but he does have a message for concerned parents.

"Parents locally have seen the news come out," said Wicks.  "We definitely want to make sure parents understand that student safety is our number one, number one priority."

And in rapid response to the tragedy in Florida, Wicks says there will be a sense of heightened awareness.

Wicks says it will be business as usual across the district tomorrow, but "we will take this issue what happened in Florida and our heightened awareness increases.  We will put a team together, we will increase our flow, and our observations."