It’s a chilling situation — an active shooter on a school campus. Just as fiercely as a threat enters through the doors, first-responders and police officers have to be ready.
More than 60 officers from the Plant City Police Department recently completed training for this specific situation during a weeklong simulation exercise, at Plant City High School.
The training included education about a variety of formations, tips and tactics. Dressed in a black T-shirt and army cargos, Sgt. Tray Towles acted as the perpetrator during the training.
“Active Shooter Training, as well as other dynamic training, is important, because it places the officer in a situation where they have to make split-second decisions while dealing with dynamic environmental factors like gunfire, innocent bystanders, moving threats (and more),” Towles said.
The training took place in four-hour blocks of instruction. Sixty-six officers, from patrol, information services, investigations, and administrative services divisions, were divided into five groups.
The training led by the department’s Professional Standards Unit, which is responsible for the development and delivery of all department training. Officer and Training Coordinator Mark Dunnam managed the overall training. The actual instruction was performed by two agency instructors, officers Matt Combs and Paul Tester.
Officers receive training in firearms, defensive tactics, TASER, legal updates and more on an ongoing basis. Dynamic training is typically done once per year.
“We simulate real-world situations to familiarize our officers with issues they might face when responding to calls for service,” Towles said. “Our feeling is that our officers are much better prepared to react when they’ve faced similar situations in training, thus making their response more fluid.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
HISTORY
Although statistically rare, multiple-casualty acts of violence are not a recent phenomenon, according to the Report on the National Summit on Multiple Casualty Shootings.
The first noted incident of violence occurred in 1927, at a school. The prevalence of these acts of homicide is low, with an estimate of 26 multiple-casualty shooting incidents identified since 2000. Seven acts occurred in 2012, including Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Conn.; Clackamas Town Center, Oregon; Pathmark, Old Bridge, N.J.; Sikh Temple, Oak Creek, Wis.; Century Movie Theater, Aurora, Colo.; Cafe Racer, Seattle, Wash.; and Oikos University, Oakland, Calif.
At a basic level, the physical environment of a K-12 setting is different from that of a college or university setting, according to a report on campus attacks from the Department of Education, Secret Service and the FBI.
Secondary schools typically comprise one to several buildings, utilize smaller classrooms and provide an experience in which students have regular contact with the same faculty and staff. Communication between responsible parties regarding issues facing the student population is facilitated by this proximity.