By Erik Hackman
The Evening News and the Tribune
CLARK COUNTY, Ind. 鈥� From Tuesday to Thursday this week, several local agencies gathered together for training in how to deal with an active shooter.
The agencies that participated in the training were Clark County 911, Heartland Ambulance, AmeriPro Floyd County, Clark County Emergency Management Agency, Greater Clark County Schools, Clark County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, Jeffersonville Police Department, Clarksville Police Department, Charlestown Police Department, Sellersburg Police Department, Utica Police Department, Clarksville Fire Department, Tri Township Fire Department and Floyd County Emergency Management Agency.
This training was administered by TEEX, a Texas-based organization that provides emergency responders to disasters across the nation and develops training and practical workforce solutions for all types of scenarios.
Training was funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This group has been in the waiting line for this training for about two years now.
鈥淲hat it allows us to do is get all of our public safety departments together and we鈥檝e been going over different scenarios from active shooters in malls, courthouses, schools,鈥� said Gavan Hebner, Clark County鈥檚 EMA director.
On Thursday, they had training for a scenario that had the agencies working together to respond to an active shooter in an airport and the shooter had placed improvised explosive devices. The shooter in the airport was done virtually with a video game-like set-up for the first responders to train with.
Active shooter training is something that the agencies do every year, but this is the first time that they have done it all together in one space. This is something that they would like to do again, but they are not sure if it will be possible to do again in the near future.
One alternative they have for the training is using boards with maps on them and using poker chips on them to show where everyone will be, though this is not as effective as the training they received from TEEX, Hebner said.
鈥淲e hope we don鈥檛 ever have a situation like this, but if we can get everybody together and we can all know how people work and train together, it鈥檚 going to make that bad day a whole lot better,鈥� Hebner said. 鈥淲hen that day comes to our community, everybody in our community knows that we鈥檝e practiced for it, we trained for it and we鈥檙e going to give our best to stop or respond to a situation like that.鈥�
Brian Mitchell, the safety and security supervisor for Greater Clark Schools, has been in the training program for three days. He has mainly been in the command center part of the training, which is where he would be if this were a real-life situation at one of the schools.
Having the training is incredible to Mitchell and he believes that it will help immensely in a real-life situation.
鈥淚n a real-life scenario, I believe all agencies would work together,鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淔or us to train together, it would help the situation in a real-life emergency. You act the way you train and if we train together and everybody is on the same page as far as what responsibility each person has, I think that helps.鈥�
Luke Eskins, a Charlestown Police Officer, said that this was training like they have never had and it was worth it. This is a very immersive training program and people are talking on radios and have the game set up to simulate the shooter.
Eskins has gotten to work most of the stations and says that his favorite was the contact teams. This is the group that gets to be on the game and make contact with the shooter.
鈥淚t feels like a game, but at the same time it鈥檚 serious,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e learning, you鈥檙e actually trying to go through, communicate properly with technical and you鈥檙e just trying to make sure information gets across. It鈥檚 fun, but it鈥檚 extremely educational.鈥�
Having this training come back is something that Eskins would love to see. Not only does he get to work with others from different agencies, he said that this type of situation is one that could be lost if they do not practice it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just been a great experience,鈥� Eskins added. 鈥淚鈥檓 a relatively new officer, I don鈥檛 have much time on and to be able to have this training, you just feel more prepared, more confident on the job. With the training we have you still feel confident but this actually gets you in the role. You鈥檙e working through every piece of it if this happens.鈥�
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