Active Shooter Threat Training for Deputies- Lockdowns and Tactics

It seems to happen too often. A deranged man enters a school building with a gun and takes aim at students and teachers. While politicians and public opinion debate the causes, Wayne County, like municipalities across the Country, are preparing for the worse.

Since 2001, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office has been undergoing training for their active threat response, Sheriff Barry Virts said on Thursday.

The training is meant to help law enforcement be as prepared as they possibly can be in the event of an active threat, which includes an active shooter situation.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an active shooter is someone who is actively engaged in killing, or attempting to kill people, in a confined or populated area. Most of the time, active shooters have no clear pattern or method for choosing their victims.
Active shooter response is difficult for law enforcement because those shootings tend to happen quickly, typically lasting 10 to 15 minutes, and there is usually little information available for the first responders.

“Generally, when the call comes in that there’s shots fired, responding law enforcement doesn’t know if it’s one, if it’s two or if it’s three people in there,” Virts said.

Law enforcement agencies across the country have different plans when it comes to active shooter response. Some assemble a small team to engage the shooter, while others have the first responding officer, or officers, attempt to stop the shooter.

According to Lieutenant Robert Milby of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, they train their officers to stop the shooter immediately.

“These tactics that the officers in the county have been trained in, are the latest, most advanced tactics, designed to put a stop to the critical incident as soon as possible,” Milby said.
Milby is a certified law enforcement instructor. He went to New Mexico three years ago to be trained in the latest active threat response techniques. Since then, the Sheriff’s office has held annual trainings.

Wayne County is a “closest car county,” which means that whatever law enforcement agency is the closest, whether it’s Sheriff, State or Local Police, responds to the scene when a call comes in.
For that reason, Virts said that they invite all law enforcement in the county and adjoining jurisdictions to participate in the training.

“We are the only county in the state, the only sheriff’s office in the state that opens up this training to every law enforcement officer in the county,” Virts said. “Every agency and every law enforcement officer.”

According to Virts, he is also in constant contact with the superintendents of all 11 school districts in the county. According to the Sheriff, schools are required by law to submit their active threat plans to the Education Department, which are then reviewed by the state police.
When a lockdown drill is held at schools in the county, Milby and a couple of sergeants are sent to monitor and offer feedback to the state police officers.

“The reason we have Lt. Milby as the monitoring supervisor of the lockdown drills is because we’re the constant throughout the county that is going to be at every single school,” Virts said.
“The training we complete is reality based, meaning that we attempt to make the training scenarios as real as possible for officers so that they learn what to expect from themselves during high-stress situations. We utilize students from the BOCES Criminal Justice program to simulate students, and members of the Wackenhut security force at Ginna. These organizations have been very generous in assisting their law enforcement community with up to date training. We could not provide the quality training that we do without them,” stressed Milby.

Virts feels that law enforcement in the county is well prepared to respond to an active threat. He said that they need to continue to work with the fire department, EMTs and school officials in order to be further prepared with how to handle the situation after the threat is eliminated.
“I am very confident that all law enforcement in Wayne County is trained, has an understanding, and is immediately ready to respond to an active shooter from the front door, in,” Virts said. “I’m very confident of that.”

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