But one recent morning, Sergeant Weihe noticed a report that, a year ago, might not have been worth a second glance. A man was arrested in a domestic incident, and the couple had a child who was a student at one of the townâs elementary schools. So he called the school to make them aware that they could get drawn into a potentially violent family dispute.  Sergeant Weihe, the supervisor of the Fairfield police school safety unit, said that without his call to the school, âmost likely, they would not have had the information.â He added, âThis unit is a new evolutionary process at work.â  Many towns in Connecticut and beyond began taking a closer look at their own security after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last Dec. 14. This increased vigilance is on full view just 25 miles from Newtown in Fairfield, where the local police have found new ways to help schools and the community at large thwart potential violence.  As in other cities and towns, there have been notable changes in security in Fairfield schools. They have new security cameras at many doors, every door leading from the exterior of school buildings is locked at all times, three armed officers float between school buildings, and every classroom has access to 911.  A new anonymous tip line inside schools is yielding 15 calls a month on average, for not only suspicious behavior but also everyday concerns like drug use and bullying.  Outside the schools, Lt. James Perez has been giving a two-hour âactive shooterâ course that he has already taught to over 800 Town of Fairfield and private employees.  In addition to showing people how to react during a violent encounter, which includes using improvised weapons, such as a stapler, Lieutenant Perez tells how to keep a gunman at bay by locking doors and avoiding the area of gunfire by leaning up against the wall on either side of the door. He also teaches how to pay closer attention to body language cues that he calls âpivotalâ in picking up signs of a potentially violent person.  âIf someone is lying to you, they tend to look away and not at you when you ask a direct question,â Lieutenant Perez told one class in November. âThey also appear preoccupied.â  Other violent indicators, he said, include having unreasonable expectations, not listening to what is being said, not taking no for an answer, acting out in anger and sending violent notes. Even a personâs posture can be indicative of potential violence. Before he takes out his weapon, the lieutenant said, a gunman generally points his toes at his intended target.  If it all seems counter to the Yankee ideals of trusting oneâs neighbor and assuming the best, Jenny Gillis, a member of the Citizenâs Emergency Response Team Program, which prepares civilians to assist the authorities during an emergency, said it was a necessary adjustment.  âI grew up in Connecticut,â said Ms. Gillis, who works as a preschool teacher. âThereâs a self-containment and you mind your own business, which is counterintuitive to being fully aware of your surroundings and noticing all strangers in your view like Lieutenant Perez taught me. Iâm polite. We give people space.  âThis is contrary to our upbringing and what we tell our children to do, but we have to do this.â  Chief Gary MacNamara, who in 2002 negotiated the release of hostages who had been taken at Fairfield University, said that he began thinking about preventing tragedies long before Dec. 14, but that âNewtown just brought my thinking to a new level by the sheer magnitude of devastation and the target being young kids.â  Sergeant Weihe, whose office is inside the Fairfield school district headquarters, is the quarterback of the school safety effort. Last month he spotted on the blotter a 911 call from a man who provided disturbing details of his intent to harm students at a Fairfield elementary school. The police took him to a hospital for evaluation; he was later arrested on charges of making threats.  That morning, Sergeant Weihe sent fliers with the manâs picture to all schools in town and worked with administrators on a plan to prevent him from entering any campus in the future.  The domestic incident he noticed one recent morning did not lead to any violence at school. But Sergeant Weiheâs call to the school had the added benefit of alerting teachers that the coupleâs child might be having a bad day. When the student had an outburst in the classroom later that day, the sergeant said, âinstead of being punitive, school officials were more understanding because of the stressors going on at home.â  âShe was not a child who stepped out of line and needed to be punished,â he continued.  Many people in Fairfield are appreciative of the new efforts. But Norman Pattis, a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in nearby Bethany, said that officials run a risk of taking cautiousness to an extreme.  âEvery time active school violence makes national news, I get one or two phone calls from someone in a routine fist fight at school and administrators threw the book at him,â he said. âIf weâre going to transform every crackpotâs complaint into a Code Red, that really gives state actors the ability to surveil us in a way thatâs unheralded in American life.â  Michael Rose, a Hartford lawyer who specializes in government employee issues, saw only an upside to the new measures. âIf I see someone in the workplace presenting a threat, I have to act,â he said. âPersonally, I would rather have clients err on the side of safety and weâll deal with litigation later.â  Despite all the new precautions, the Rev. Alida Ward of Greenfield Hill Congregational Church said she did not envision the fabric of her town changing because of them.  âAs a pastor, we are always calling for people to be attuned to one another and to look out for one another with compassion and concern, and so that task remains the same,â she said.  âIt may be we are more attuned to one another than we were way before, and thatâs not all bad.â
In Fairfield, Conn., and other towns there have been notable security changes, like more armed officers and surveillance cameras.