Area officials discuss active shooter training for schools
Winston County Sheriff Mike Perkins says active shooter response is something they train for with all law enforcement within the city and county.
WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A school shooting can shake the nerves of a whole nation.
Two teachers and two students died at Apalachee High School in Georgia when police say a 14-year-old opened fire.
“It brings chills to your skin. You begin to worry, and of course, you want to say a prayer,” said Louisville Louisville Municipal School District Superintendent Dr. David Luke. “It pulls at your heartstrings, but then you turn around, you start internalizing the data, and you start watching the interviews, of the people who go through the experience, to see if you can glean any information to provide a safer environment for our students here.”
Winston County Sheriff Mike Perkins said active shooter response is something they train for with all law enforcement within the city and county.
“Everybody will know what to do when they get there,” Perkins said. “Whoever is on scene first has to react, and then as other units come in, they have to know what they’re supposed to do.”
Part of the training is knowing the landscape of the school. So when they react, they know where everything is.
Superintendent of the Louisville Municipal School District Dr. David Luke said they have routine meetings and drill work.
“We brought them all in, we did a one-by-one campus lockdown drill to evaluate how it went, what went on, familiarize themselves, the first responders with our campuses,” Luke said.
Perkins says the School Resource Officers also play a critical role.
“Their job is to stop any threat that may be on, and to notify other law enforcement where they are, and what they’re doing,” Perkins said.
Luke said they also have measures in place like locking gates, external doors, and classroom doors.
“We have installed a Centegix crisis alert system,” Luke said. “It’s a badge-oriented system with a button. If you mash it just a few times, you get some local, internal help that comes to your aid. If you push the button a certain number of times, it directly calls the 911 switchboard, and the Calvary comes rushing in.”
And they’ll get training on the protocol if they engage with a shooter.
“We use Sims Round which is plastic bullets,” Perkins said. “From there, we learn what we do right and what we do wrong. We bring in outside people to evaluate what we are doing, that way, we can maximize our response and do everything correctly.”
“All these things work together so that we can monitor, and limit access, and try to respond as quickly as possible in case of an event like that,” Luke said.
Dr. Luke says homeland security will come this fall to asses and provide recommendations to improve safety.
There is also an anonymous reporting app called “Stop It” to let them know of any suspicious activity.
Sheriff Perkins says they do these trainings at least once a year.
This year, they will have two, and the next one will be this fall.
