Active Shooter
Brent Feltenberger
Posted in: News on 12/3/09 at 1:34 PM PST
The stage was set. People screaming, "ammunition" flying and" blood "spattered. An old building of the community college was under "attack". Some were victims and bystanders while others were suspects. Though the roles were different, their objective was the same. That objective was to be prepared for the worst and expect the unexpected.
Los Angeles Harbor College was the location for a shooting exercise put on by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department for community colleges. The exercise is known as Active Shooter and took place Nov. 11 when the campus was closed for the Veterans Day holiday. The demonstration involved deputies from all nine community colleges in the district and took place in the old technology building, which is set to be torn down in the near future.
Since the Columbine Shooting in 1999, law enforcement agencies all over the United States have been training officers on how to use extreme deadly force when Special Weapons and Tactical units are unavailable. The officers are taught to move together as a group of usually four with every person having to cover each corner. For this particular exercise, deputies used Simulation Guns, which looked similar to a standard issued weapon, but fired a bullet filled with soap. The soap bullet stings when a human target is hit.
At Harbor, deputies make it a priority to hold this training as often as possible.
"We try to hold a training session at least once a year," said Deputy Greg Mendonca.
A briefing in the cafeteria at 7 a.m. was held to discuss the expectations for the exercise. Deputies were told to keep their guard up, while their cadet volunteers were told to make the scenario as real as possible. When the briefing was over, deputies in charge wanted all 33 volunteers to line up outside the café for a briefing of their own. Many of these individuals were given imitation blood and told to scream when the suspects took them hostage. Some were told to come out of the building screaming out cries for help. The host of the event showed great enthusiasm.
Los Angeles Harbor College was the location for a shooting exercise put on by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department for community colleges. The exercise is known as Active Shooter and took place Nov. 11 when the campus was closed for the Veterans Day holiday. The demonstration involved deputies from all nine community colleges in the district and took place in the old technology building, which is set to be torn down in the near future.
Since the Columbine Shooting in 1999, law enforcement agencies all over the United States have been training officers on how to use extreme deadly force when Special Weapons and Tactical units are unavailable. The officers are taught to move together as a group of usually four with every person having to cover each corner. For this particular exercise, deputies used Simulation Guns, which looked similar to a standard issued weapon, but fired a bullet filled with soap. The soap bullet stings when a human target is hit.
At Harbor, deputies make it a priority to hold this training as often as possible.
"We try to hold a training session at least once a year," said Deputy Greg Mendonca.
A briefing in the cafeteria at 7 a.m. was held to discuss the expectations for the exercise. Deputies were told to keep their guard up, while their cadet volunteers were told to make the scenario as real as possible. When the briefing was over, deputies in charge wanted all 33 volunteers to line up outside the café for a briefing of their own. Many of these individuals were given imitation blood and told to scream when the suspects took them hostage. Some were told to come out of the building screaming out cries for help. The host of the event showed great enthusiasm.
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San Diego Movers
posted 1/06/10 @ 12:39 PM PST
It's great that this type of training occurs on a regular basis because we never know when it will be needed to save lives.
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