Active shooter simulation tests local officers

Local law enforcement officers were forced to face the unthinkable last week, as they participated in an active shooter simulation that transformed Polson High School into a scene of chaos and panic.

“It’s the closest to reality that you can come,” said Polson Police Chief Wade Nash, who helped organize the program through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Taking advantage of Thursday’s winter weather closure, instructors turned the school campus into an unsettling replica of an officer’s worst fear. Participants were bombarded with mock explosions, gunfire and screaming victims as they raced through the hallways to identify and eliminate the shooter.

“It’s not the typical way of training,” Clay Shoemaker, a school resource officer with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said after completing a trial run. “The fear is real.”

Despite the impulse to wait and call for backup, officers were instructed to take action and storm the building. Their resolve was tested through numerous distractions, including cries for help from bystanders, played enthusiastically by volunteers from local government agencies.

“It’s in our nature to stop and help,” Chris Clary, a patrol deputy with the sheriff’s office said. “But we need to eliminate the threat as fast as possible.”

This mentality has become the recommended approach to handling active shooter situations, which officials say remain as much of a possibility here as other places across the country.

“We are fortunate that it hasn’t happened yet,” Nash said. “But it’s something that could happen here.”

Nash said the training was especially helpful in stressing the importance of inter-agency partnerships. As one of the instructors pointed out, the lack of communication between police and paramedics during the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., hindered response efforts.

“You’re talking about mass chaos,” Nash said. “It’s important that we work together to come up with plan as much as we can.”

While the simulation took place in a school, the training took into account a variety of scenarios where shooting have occurred in recent years, including hospitals, movie theaters and government buildings.

“If you think about it, we have all those place in this community,” Nash said.

Nash said the program marks the first time officers with city, county and tribal law enforcement agencies have trained together for such a situation. He said he would like to continue holding exercises in the future; anything to avoid the devastation left behind by a real event.

“It just rips through communities,” he said. “The aftermath is unbelievable.”