Local law enforcement talks immediate response to active shooter threats
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Law enforcement in Columbia and Boone County are trained to do whatever is necessary to stop an active shooter threat and they said the practice is to move in without waiting for a response.
People across the US have expressed outrage that it took officers in Uvalde over an hour to move into the classroom and kill the shooter that killed 19 students and two teachers on May 24. Many put blame on officers for more lives not being saved.
Todd Burke, police generalist instructor with the Missouri Department of Public Safety, has worked in law enforcement for 40 years. He said this wasn't always the case, but the common practice now is to go to the sound of the gunshots as quickly as possible.
"If two officers can be on scene and move in together, but we don't wait. If there's only one solo officer on the scene they grab their equipment and go to the sound of the guns. The idea is to shut down the threat as quickly as possible," Burke said.
Captain Brian Leer, with the Boone County Sheriff's Office, said that is common practice in his department as well.
"We're trained to identify the threat and take whatever means possible to stop the threat," Leer said.
Not hesitating in an active shooter situation became the common practice after Columbine, where 15 people were killed and over 20 injured.
Burke said around 20 years ago, patrol officers did not have the same training as SWAT and were unable to appropriately respond to an active shooter.
"The policies mostly up until that time was to surround and wait for SWAT," Burke said.
Leer said when law enforcement waits to move in, that can often cost lives.
"Whenever law enforcement would wait if there was an active killer inside a building it all too often cost lives. We're constantly in law enforcement training for different tactics different ways to enter a search and locate active killers," Leer said.
Burke said officers will risk their lives to save a life but are not required to risk their lives.
"We will risk our lives in a calculated manner to save a savable life. We may risk our lives a little to save savable property. We are not willing to risk our lives at all to save that that is already lost," Burke said.
Both Leer and Burke said officers in Uvalde could have reacted sooner, but said there is a lot that goes into making those difficult decisions.
"There's so much educated risk that goes into It. If law enforcement decides to act does this aggravate them and they start shooting again," Leer said.
The Boone County Sheriff's Office has worked with many schools and teachers in the area, to learn how to lock down classrooms to where it is next to impossible for a threat to get in.
