Officers Train For Active Shooter Situation

Law Enforcement and School Resource Officers from around Northeast Georgia met in Lumpkin County Tuesday to train for school emergencies. They were mainly focusing on "active shooter response." An active shooter is an armed person who had used deadly force on other persons and continues to do so, like what happened in the Virginia Tech massacre. The officers were put in real situations and used live fire in the drill.

"Move! Move!" shouts North Georgia College and State University Officer Trainer Mike Ramsey. "Keep it tucked! Keep it tucked!"

If things sound a little intense at the Lumpkin County Sheriff Training Facility, that's because it is.

"Remember 2.5 seconds," yells Mike to the group of officer trainees. "In 2.5 seconds people are still killing people."

He's referring to what could happen in an active shooter situation.

"An untrained individual can engage a target, a person about every 2.5 seconds. That means 24 people killed in one minute."

So time is of the essence. And activities like the ones practiced Tuesday are aimed at stopping an attacker and savings lives. Running full speed with weapons drawn, the officers have to stop on a dime and fire at the target. That teaches them to use immediate response, while staying focused and ultimately stopping the attack.

"You can't hesitate," says Ramsey. "You must immediately respond and be ruthless in your response. By pass all other dangers and terminated the threat."

The emphasis for this type of training was re-established after the Virginia Tech shootings. But since school threats are nothing new, they practice every year.

The worst school disaster happened in Bath Township, Michigan in 1927. A school board member upset with property taxes loaded the local elementary school with dynamite. After killing his wife he blew up the school. 45 children were killed, 58 wounded.

"We can't prevent an active shooting from happening," says Ramsey. "But we have got to be able to respond quickly.'

The drill also teaches the officers to over look the deceased or wounded when a shooter is still on the attack. Most of the officers have never had an active shooter inside one of their schools, but after Tuesday, if it does happen they'll be ready.

Officers from Lumpkin, Forsyth and White Counties as well as officers from UGA took part in the active shooter response.