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Police handling of Brockton High lockdown called into question

BROCKTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) Students at Brockton High School and their parents were told that the school was conducting a drill on Thursday while officials were dealing with an actual emergency.

Police officers placed the school in lockdown and began searching for a gun after a student told school officials that she thought she saw a gun tucked into another student's waist band.

One student tells FOX 25 the students were told it was a drill and they sat in class for about two hours before being told there was a threat.

One day after the incident, school resource officers told a local newspaper that they essentially downplayed the threat by calling it a drill to media, dispatchers, students, and parents to avoid panic.

Parents were told by the principal through an automated phone call that it was a lockdown and that K-9 teams were there.

Some say there was a breakdown in communication during the lockdown.

"After we found out about the lockdown it would have been good to get more information. Nobody really knew what happened," says Jeff Falandys, a Brockton High parent.

Thomas Minichiello, the vice chair of the Brockton School Committee, says the school followed protocol and handled the Thursday threat well.

No weapon was found in the search, but serious questions as to what really happened remain.