Oklahoma police officers participate in rapid response training

Ana Lastra

The Moore Monitor Media Platform

08/14/11           

            Walking into Highland West Junior High School, police officers with facemasks and military fatigues is not a common sight. Hearing the loud pops of gunfire is something you hope not to hear, yet school resource officers spent two days in an interactive training to stop threats against local public schools.

             35 police officers from Moore and surrounding cities participated in the Advance Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, which was held at Highland West Junior High School.

            Sergeant Jeremy Lewis, community relations officer for the city of Moore, said that the training is mandatory for Moore’s school resource officers.

            “We went through a lot of classroom stuff yesterday and today we’re going into different areas of active shooter,” Lewis said.

            The rapid response program was founded after the tragedy at Columbine High School, though it was being developed prior to the event.  Since it’s development, the program is now a nationwide law enforcement training process.

            “After the events in Columbine had occurred, the mindset and the training across the country for law enforcement changed,” patrol officer Nathan Sandoval said.

            The program provides training through shooter scenarios at schools as well as classroom style teaching, according to Sandoval, the lead instructor for the program.

            “Without the ability to actually go through what is called reality based training, all the PowerPoint’s and time in a classroom in the world will not provide enough training for the actual real event,” Sandoval said.

            The police officers train in an active threat simulation at the junior high school. The officers are suited up in protective pads and helmets as they respond to threats in a school.

            “It gives the officer the feel, the sounds, the sights the smells of actually being in a combat environment which is what that has turned into especially during a on going active threat,” Sandoval said.

            Experiencing the stress of the moment teaches the school resource officers what to do and learn from any mistakes so they aren’t repeated should a dangerous situation arise in a school.

            “So they can learn their mistakes here in training and evolve from there to provide a better response, God forbid, if it actually ever happens,” Sandoval said.

            The officers use paintball style guns during their simulation to make the exercise more realistic.

            “They get actually shot at,” Lewis said,  “It’s kind of like a paintball but it stings a little more.”

            This is the second year that Moore’s school resource officers have gone through the program.  The rapid response program is being used across the nation, so instructors travel to teach officers skill sets to prevent or get ahead of a threat.