Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 • Active Shooter training brings agencies together
Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015, edition of the Lassen County Times.
Law enforcement officers rush onto the scene after an active shooter was announced on campus during a training exercise.Taking a proactive approach, local law enforcement and emergency agencies took part in an in-depth active assailant training.
Complete with life-like wounds and stressful situations, The Susanville Police Department, in coordination with multiple agencies including Lassen County Public Health, took command of the Lassen High School campus Tuesday, Aug. 4 to partake in a hands-on training that benefited emergency responders throughout the county should a school shooting ever happen locally.
“I am very pleased with the outcome of out training,” said Susanville Police Chief Tom Downing. “I’m impressed with how our community comes together.”
Role players in the second annual active assailant training exercise are escorted to the reunification center during the hands-on training.The second annual day-long training, put together by Susanville Police Department detective Nate Horton, school resource officer Terra Avilla and Lassen County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Christi Myers hosted break-out panels and two active shooter scenarios, complete with reunification training.
According to Horton, last year’s training showed the department one of the most important areas to work on during a multi-agency event was communication.
“Making sure people were not doing the same task twice and … streamlining as smoothly as possible for all the agencies,” said Horton. “We need to come together … to effectively work together.”
This year, training was different from the previous year’s endeavor mainly due to the increase of role players and the added reunification scenario.
A Susanville police officer and a California Highway patrolman cover a hallway during the active shooter training at Lassen High School.In the morning, local law enforcement agencies and emergency services providers responded to a two-shooter situation that affected the fictional campus Sunny Side Junior High School, which utilized three of the Lassen High School buildings.
Agencies responded to the scene staggering times as if they were responding accordingly. Some were from the Susanville Police Department, the California Highway Patrol the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office in addition to officers from the local prisons. The officers were all using unloaded, practice weapons.
Then, officers followed a training called, “stop the shooting, stop the bleeding,” where they go back to help the injured after the assailant has been stopped, hoping to limit the number of people injured. Last year Downing said this has been in practice since the Columbine school shooting in 1999.
In order to make the training as realistic as possible, the Mountain Lifeflight crew was brought in to adhere fake wounds and blood to local students and people who volunteered to act as victims and scared students during the simulations.
Law enforcement officers and emergency responders tend to role players with fake wounds during the active assailant training exercise held at Lassen High School on Tuesday, Aug. 4.The participants had scripts and were directed to behave as if the wounds and situation were real in order to increase the realistic situation of the scenario.
Prior to the event, Downing told participants “Today is not a performance — it’s a practice,” stressing the importance of the training should an event such as this ever occur in the area.
The second afternoon training also had law enforcement officers and emergency services providers responding to a school shooting situation, but also had Lassen County Behavioral Health, local faith-based organizations and school officials partaking in the reunification of students with their parents or guardians following a traumatic event.
California Correctional Center officers carry off a wounded participant during the annual active assailant training exercise.“(The) activities showed the concerted effort of multiple agencies to work together to safeguard our children, educational staff and community members. With so many tragic events occurring around the country, it is important that we stay up-to-date, vigilant and practice scenarios that will potentially save lives,” said Jason Waddell, Susanville School District superintendent who observed the active shooter training. “The live scenarios practiced today will better prepare staff and emergency responders so that we can better meet the needs of our students and community. As a representative of our schools, I’d like to thank all of the agencies that took the time today to work with students and staff members to engage in creating safer scenarios should a real event ever take place.”
According to Downing, following the active shooter training there will be a debriefing with key people from various departments to discuss the strengths and weaknesses from the event.
The department is planning on making the training an annual event, potentially switching up locations.
