SRCSO hosts 'Active Shooter Training'

MILTON, Fla. (WALA) - The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a partnership with the Santa Rosa County School District, it will be conducting, “Active Shooter Training/Exercises” during the summer at Avalon Middle School.

The SRCSO said most active shooting incidents are often over within 10 to 15 minutes, and law enforcement must be prepared both mentally and physically to deal with active shooter situations.

Authorities said shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve quickly which typically requires immediate deployment of law enforcement to stop the shooting and mitigate harm to the victims.

"More than the just the training, we want them to know how to respond," said sheriff's office spokesman Scott Haines.  "We want them to know that they have to go to where the shots are being fired. We don't have time to wait. We want to make sure that once they get a group together, that they're ready and that they go and that they take care of the threat and stop the shooting. That's the point of active shooter."

Thursday, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office hosted the Milton Police Department in the training

"They threw a bunch of scenarios at us to make us think about possible situations when we show up to different calls," said deputy Sean Reilly.

A road deputy, Reilly said he was thankful to be a part of a scenario he doesn't commonly experience.

"When you know you're going to get shot in a scenario like this, your adrenaline still goes up, you're still very away that you may get shot and you don't want to get shot, it's just part of all the training," Reilly said.

Trainers want it to feel as real as possible, raising the participants' anxiety.  The idea is they'll be alert if the time comes when they're needed most.

Last week's movie theater massacre in Colorado is proof that the worst can happen anywhere.

"You don't have to live in a metropolitan area for things like the incident in Aurora to happen, so even for agencies- and we're a little bit smaller- it's good for us to have that training," Reilly said.

The Active Shooter Training will continue from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on August 3.

Officials said citizens can expect to see increased law enforcement and other first responders’ presence and activity in the vicinity of Avalon Middle School during the training sessions.

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