Boone County Sheriff’s Department works with area schools annually on active shooter training
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Boone County Sheriff Department conducts active shooter training exercises with the school districts they have partnered with annually and at the request of schools as well.
Capt. Brian Leer with the Boone County Sheriff Department said that they have been heavily involved with local schools. Leer said that law enforcement agencies work with school districts to put policies, procedures, and training in place.
"Unfortunately, you can't prepare for everything, and unfortunately there is evil in this world, there are people who want to do harm to other people," Leer said that most events like the Texas shooting incident that happened on Tuesday are random, and nobody knows when they will happen.
"You never know where that's going to hit, and that's one thing we drive home whenever we do the training, the active shooter training," Leer said that they make sure when they train the faculty, staff, and administration at school's they know that this can happen anywhere.
Leer said, "We are constantly talking about the what if's" and talk to schools and teachers about what it is they are going to do if a situation occurs."
So that way if, and when there is an active threat in or on school grounds, they have already thought about how the situation should be handled.
Leer said that the Boone County Sheriff's Department has two school resource officers in the county, and that they are armed and they are active uniformed deputies.
Leer said that training has changed in recent years in response to active school shootings. Leer said that before Columbine, they used to set up a permitter and wait for the S.W.A.T to arrive, but after Columbine, they realized that it was costing people their lives.
"There was a shift in the dynamic and the training, and now the focus is on stopping the threat." Leer said that the training turned to neutralizing the threat and stopping the active situation as quickly as possible.
Leer said that if you see something say something; if you see or hear people talking, or posting on social media, it's best to reach out to your local police department.
Leer said, "So law enforcement can get started on it, time is of the essence, and if we can intercept something before it happens, that's the best case scenario."
