(The Center Square) – The Redmond School District hosted first responders from Central Oregon to train for an active shooter situation, as law enforcement across the country also takes steps to prepare.
“We never want a mass casualty or a lot of people getting hurt,” said Redmond Police Department Lt. Jesse Petersen. “But if it does happen, we want to be best prepared so we can handle it appropriately and save lives.”
First responders and community partners from Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties responded for a mock-shooting training at Elton Gregory Middle School in Redmond from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 21.
In the scenario, officers responded to two mock shooters causing 21 injuries and casualties. Students, staff and administrators observed and role-played in the event, Petersen said. Police treated the media covering the event as role-playing.
“You had a suspicious person over at Elton Gregory,” he said. “It turns into gunshot fire going off, officers respond Code Three – with lights and sirens – and their job is to go and stop that threat so people aren’t injured. But you end up having a secondary shooter that came in later.”
Petersen said when officers responded to the training, they treated it like a real shooting. They stopped the threat, then sought to save and preserve life, then blocked off the scene to contain the problem.
“They’re going to get people the medical assistance they need,” he said. “If there are things people can do themselves, like a quick tourniquet, they would do that.”
Fire departments practiced transporting large numbers of injured people to hospitals, and school buses brought non-injured people to the reunification center planned at Highland Baptist Church. In real life, this would involve the District Attorney, Victim Assistance staff and mental health resources, according to Petersen.
There have been 23 school shootings so far this year, according to Education Week. The nation has also seen more than 310 mass shootings this year, according to Forbes, though there is no official consensus on what constitutes a “mass shooting.”
Police and schools across the nation have been preparing for mass shootings recently, according to CNN. The RPD trains nearly five times per year, Petersen said, but larger departments train more often.
Sometimes, trainings – like those in New York’s $50 million State Preparedness Training Center – take a similar form to the Redmond training, according to The New York Times.
The Department of Justice, through its Community Oriented Policing Services, offered a $12 million grant this year to train at least 20,000 first responders with “scenario-based, integrated response courses designed to counter active shooter threats or acts of terrorism.”
The DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime can allocate up to $50 million for a reserve supporting the Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program, which supports communities struck by mass violence.
Petersen said training helps create better police officers.
“If you have an active threat, peoples’ lives are at risk,” Petersen said. “It is our job to go in and stop that person.”
