When the Boothbay Harbor police chief met the Aroostook County inventor of body armor backpacks, he knew the gear might help kids feel safer in school.
Chief Doug Snyder, who often works with schools to improve safety, listened to teachers about student fears of school shootings. After securing $23,625 in private foundation grants, he ordered 105 backpacks from Houlton-based Mundbora Inc. to place one in each elementary and high school classroom.
“When I graduated from high school, Columbine had just happened,” Snyder said Friday. “So it’s kind of hard for us to think about it how the kids think about it [when it happens] every day, every week. I wanted to figure out a way of making them feel a little more comfortable about being in school.”
The Columbine principal said he never thought it would happen in his school, Snyder said. And before the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston, many Mainers never imagined such a tragedy could happen in the state.
Lewiston brought it home, Snyder said.
The 1999 Columbine High School shooting that killed 13 people gave rise to calls for gun control legislation, mass shooter training and tighter school security.
Despite the outrage, the shootings have continued, now numbering more than 390 across the country, killing at least 203 and injuring 441 students, educators and others on K-12 campuses, according to Brady, a Washington, D.C.- based gun violence prevention organization.
At a Topsham police chiefs meeting last year, Snyder met international body guard Jeff Maguire, Mundbora owner and body shield backpack inventor, who told him about the protective gear.
“It’s not the perfect answer, but it is another tool for teachers and children to use in these types of situations,” he said. “I thought, if it makes the kids feel a little more comfortable and it makes the teachers have another tool, I want to do it.”
Two weeks ago, Snyder and Maguire delivered packs to the teachers.
“We met with all of the teachers and explained how the backpacks can protect them and their students,” Maguire said. “The chief is taking a proactive approach to school violence, setting a new benchmark in school safety for other towns to follow across the state. “
The Mundbora body shield bags are easy to use and are equipped with the traditional vertical backpack straps, but also have two horizontal straps that a person can slide an arm into and hold across their body for protection, which could give them time to escape a dangerous situation, Maguire said.
“It’s designed to create a barrier between you and an attacker,” he said. “You can use it as a shield to create an opportunity to escape.”
Maguire’s body shield invention stemmed from more than 20 years of experience as a personal protection specialist, safeguarding royalty, dignitaries and celebrities such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Linkin Park and the grandchildren of the Saudi crown prince.
He now works exclusively as a bodyguard for Rihanna, traveling internationally with her, he said.
He began exploring ways to offer personal protection several years ago, and with the help of a local Amish saddler, he came up with his initial body shield backpack in 2019. He now sells them online and from a retail space in downtown Houlton.
The Boothbay Harbor partnership marks Maguire’s initial contract with Maine schools, which is the very reason he began this mission, he said.
There was some public criticism at first about the bags for the Boothbay Harbor schools. Some detractors called for gun control legislation instead and others were concerned that there is only one shield per classroom.
The way Snyder sees it, the shields are one of many classroom tools similar to fire extinguishers. Those aren’t given to every kid, he said.
The Boothbay Harbor police currently provide ALICE — run, hide, fight – training in local schools. The body shield packs are just one more tool that might save lives, Snyder said, adding that they complement the current active shooter training.
In the “run” part, the teacher will most likely be the last person out of a classroom. They can throw the pack on their back to help protect a whole single line of students, he said.
Snyder talked about the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting with 32 fatalities and how the victims decided to attack the shooter. The first few people were shot.
“If they had a backpack, could the results have been different?” he asked. “I don’t know, but maybe.”
This is the first step in Snyder’s plan for the bags. He wants to add first aid kits with tourniquets, he said.
“God forbid we have to use them, but it’s there if we do,” Snyder said.