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Local agencies conduct 'active shooter' event
With school out for spring break, the Elmore County Sheriff's Department held an active-shooter training exercise at Glenns Ferry High School last week.
Representatives from Elmore Ambulance Service, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Elmore County Dispatch and St. Luke's Elmore Medical Center also took part in the two-day exercise that began March 23.
Every sheriff's deputy, including those assigned to the courthouse and another assigned to the jail, participated in the training. Meanwhile, several jail staff members portrayed victims or the shooters themselves.
At a briefing held before the drills began, deputies were given four objectives and goals: Stop the threat, keep up communications, secure the scene so that emergency medical crews could help victims and directing ambulance crews to the location of each victim.
The scenario for each team was the same but concealed from deputies who had yet gone through the drill. Those officers remained in the school cafeteria, which served as the staging area.
The exercise began with report from dispatch. Gunshots were fired at Glenns Ferry school with communication lost between the first officer on scene.
A team of two or three deputies sprang into action, rushing to a parked sheriff's vehicle. Arriving on scene, deputies emerged from the vehicle with their simulated weapons already drawn and "hot."
The team comprised of Sgt. Chuck Pickering and Bailiff Tammy Curley entered the building through the rear door of the high school wing. Each taking one side of the corridor, they took turns sweeping open classrooms, one always standing guard in the hallway ready for any possible ambush. They rattled doors that were closed, making sure they were secure.
Gunshots rang out as Curley entered an open classroom. Pickering rushed in and began firing, with the shooter going down. While Curley cuffed the suspect, Pickering covered the doorway, prepared for additional shooters.
It wasn't know if there were other shooters that had infiltrated the building and how many there were.
The team continued to sweep the building when they heard a strangled voice cry out, "help me." A student lay wounded in the hallway with others -- still yet to be discovered -- were either incapacitated from their injuries or already dead.
After securing the high school wing, deputies moved to the elementary wing. A deputy was lying motionless on the ground. The team pulled the officer out of harm's way and continued its sweep.
As Curley emerged from a sweep of a restroom, shots rang out in the library.
Rushing toward the sound of gunfire, the deputies remained low to the ground. The shooter wasn't visible through the library's interior window and the room's east door is locked. There is no other course of action but to enter through the west door and engage the shooter.
Shots were fired. A deputy was possibly hit but keeps on firing back.
The shooter was down.
Two other people are told to get on their knees and raise their hands above their heads. The deputies were still not sure if they were hostages or more shooters. A search for weapons comes up empty and the hostages released. On the floor lay the gunman.
During the training, deputies wore helmets to protect their faces from the paint-based rounds fired by the assailants. Stripping off the helmets, they check for pink splotches on their clothing -- each one an indication were hit by the plastic bullets that release colored laundry detergent upon impact. The adrenaline surge had them panting and perspiring.
Now it was time for the team to face their critics. What did they do right? Where did they need to improve?
Throughout each drill, groups of observers from the local Air Force base, the sheriff's department and local ambulance service shadowed each team during the exercise. Standing at the end of the hallway trying to quell the adrenaline rush, the breath of each deputy comes in gasps as they are asked to replay the drill.
It has them asking questions. Did they achieve the goals set out in the briefing? Did they keep in constant communication with dispatch to let backup officers know of their locations and current situation? Did they communicate well as a team? Did they secure firearms when they cuffed a shooter? Did they search shooters for other weapons? How do they think the drill went?
The same scenario repeats itself over and over until every officer completes the drill.
The day ends on a positive note.
"Things went really good," said Sgt. Steve Burnett, who facilitated last week's exercise. "We tried to make (the drill) more realistic this year."
Last week's active shooter exercise was the second for Deputy Curley, one of two bailiffs assigned to the county courthouse.
Thinking back on her drill, Curley admitted that the training made her "feel better equipped" should a similar situation arise at the courthouse, where three officers are on duty and a surveillance system can track activities.
Curley says this year's training was a "little more methodical" than last year because of the opportunity to systematically go room-by-room through the school.
In the lull just before lunch, school superintendent Cody Fisher and K-8 principal Rob Spriggs were given the opportunity to play the good guys.
Gearing up in Kevlar vests and armed with the low-power ammunition and accompanied by Burnett, both individuals entered the building through the rear door of the high school wing. There, they faced a condensed version of the scenario.
Fisher and Spriggs swept the classrooms, but didn't encounter their first shooter. But shots soon ring out. Fisher and Spriggs spring into action, engaging former Glenns Ferry High School student Jacqueline Ferry -- now employed by the sheriff's office -- who portrays the perpetrator.
Pink splotches on Fisher's and Spriggs' clothing indicate Ferry has found her mark, but the two administrators don't miss a step.
After subduing Ferry, Fisher and Spriggs follow the piercing cries of a victim, which they discover in the school's library area.
The two men search between the book shelves but find no perpetrators or further victims. The library is clear. The exercise ends.
Removing their helmets, both men admit the drill was "intense." Moreover, what they just faced deepens their respect for the courage and quick thinking needed when a law enforcement officer faces a life and death situation, Fisher shares.
The exercise also gave the two administrators a better idea of how they can assist the sheriff's office in the event of an emergency, especially with communication.
While the sheriff's office will use the active shooter exercise to train officers, school administrators will put to use what they learned and observed while they review and amend district emergency response and evacuation protocol.
Fisher indicated that he and Spriggs will work with the sheriff's office on procedures that incorporate ALICE, which is short for Alert, Lockdown, Identify, Communicate and Evacuate).
Earlier this month, Burnett and other deputies visited with school staff to go over procedures for the exercise. The staff's response was very positive, Burnett said.
"I am really impressed with Mr. Fisher and Mr. Spriggs," said Burnett, who appreciated the district's proactive approach.
Yet all the policies and all the training can only prepare officers and school staff to a certain degree, Spriggs emphasized. Each situation is different, and no one policy "will fit any given training," he added.
In some cases, there could be two or more gunmen, and the school would be completely locked down. In another case, a sole gunmen may be in one wing of the school, allowing students to evacuate from other wings.
Statistics show that only 4 percent of school shootings involve more than one perpetrator, Burnett said.
A new camera surveillance system planned for the school building will allow school administrators to track activity in hallways and, in the event of an attack, the movements of the perpetrator.
The information will be relayed to dispatch that would give responding officers minute-by-minute information.
When asked whether the close proximity of the school to I-84 would increase the odds of a school shooting here, Lt. Bobby Wade indicated it was not a major concern.
According to a study by the U.S. Secret Service, current students comprise 95 percent of school shooters.
Also taking part in last week's active shooter drill was Rez Cotton, head of St. Luke's Elmore Medical Center's emergency department. The emergency department conducted its own training simultaneous during the active shooter drill.