On Tuesday, July 8 and Thursday, July 10 Clark County law enforcement officers participated in an active threat training at Thorp High School. Officers from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office as well as officers from other police departments in Clark County participated. Thorp EMS participated in the training as well, learning how to work with police to remove victims after a shooting incident.
The day provided training in an integrated response to an active threat, in this case a school shooting. Thorp EMS was involved in getting the “victims” out. They were trained in how to rescue victims while minimizing any threat to EMS personnel. After the shooter is stopped and the victims are dealt with, law enforcement continues to search the building for other possible shooters. New this year was the use of a shot box, which simulates gun fire in place of using blanks or rubber bullets. They also did scenarios with two shooters, which they haven’t done in the past.
Officers entered the building and addressed the threat before taking in EMS personnel to help with removing victims. Victims were triaged on scene to decide who needed to be removed first. In some cases, officers gave initial first aid to victims applying tourniquets to stop or reduce bleeding, or providing compression to a wound to slow down bleeding.
This training is important so officers not only learn the process of handling such situations, but how to work together. Multiple scenarios were gone through each day, with officers playing different roles in different scenarios. They may have been the first person entering the building. They may have secured the classroom where the shooter and victims were. They may have entered with EMS personnel, providing them protection. Or they may have remained to check classrooms for other threats. They also got to be victims. On Tuesday one of the officers got “shot.” On Thursday, when an officer’s gun jammed, he used his football tackling skills to take out the shooter. Scenarios were completed with shooters in various classrooms.
All officers received training that will help them protect those in our schools and community should it ever be necessary.