Gun shots could be heard last week in an empty school building in Gray during training exercises for an event that all involved pray will never happen.
The Jones County Sheriff Office’s Active Shooter Training took place coincidentally the same week that the Uvalde, Texas, police chief was indicted over his failed response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The training is led by JCSO officers who are certified trainers with three new deputies recently certified. JCSO Captains Travis Douglas and Kenny Allen are veteran trainers with Lt. Wesley Ransom, Investigator John Simmons and Corp. Jeff Sullivan the newly certified.
Douglas and Allen previously received their Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) through Texas State University, and Ransom, Simmons and Sullivan were trained at Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.
Last week’s active shooter training was held in the buildings of the Maggie Califf Complex, which is the perfect place to simulate the training scenarios. The training starts with class time and then moves to hands-on exercises. Officers go through various team situations that place each of them in different roles, including solo training exercises of what to do if they are first on the scene.
A lot of preparation takes place before the training. The building has to be set up by the trainers, and the Jones County School System turns on the power to the vacant building. School Superintendent Charles Lundy came one afternoon to observe the training.
Thirty-one JCSO deputies took part in the training, including four female officers. Deputies Ayla Morris and Emily Maddox are patrol officers. Michelle Amerson is a school resource officer, and Crystal Murphy is an investigator.
In a June 28 interview, Sheriff Butch Reece said active shooter training is thought of being in schools, but it could be anywhere.
“We have to think of churches, businesses or somewhere like the government center,” he said. “We have some fun, but we take the training very seriously.”
Reece said the officers all know what is expected of them if they are the first to arrive on an active shooter scene.
“If you are first, whether you are male or female, you go in. If you want to wait for backup, we don’t need you,” the sheriff stated.
Reece said he appreciates the Board of Education allowing them to train at the school. He said medical first responders are included in the training, and he would like to have more of them involved.
The sheriff said some of the kids from the recent JCSO summer camp participated in the training by playing the roles of victims.
He noted that, during the summer months, when the schools are empty, Jones County deputies take the opportunity to walk the halls to become familiar with the layout of the schools.
Reece said he also plans to have training exercises with dispatchers.
“If we have an active shooter situation, everyone will be involved, and they need to know what to do,” he said.
Douglas said the last two days of training were pretty much turned over to the three newly certified trainers.
This reporter got to observe several of the exercises during the afternoon of the final day, June 27. Allen portrayed the bad guy as usual complete with whelps from the training pistol ammo to prove it.
The deputies relaxed and joked during breaks, but when the exercises began, it was all business. Each exercise had an active shooter who was barricaded in a room or area of the school. After the gun shots rang out, the first team in would neutralize the threat, and another team would clear the hallway and bring in the first responders.
Everyone involved was outfitted in safety gear, and observers wore brightly colored JCSO vests to make sure they were not mistaken for a bad guy. The gear stayed on until the all-clear was given.
Immediately after each exercise, a debriefing session was held, pointing out the good things that happened and discussing ideas of how to do it better.
Ransom led several of the debriefing sessions.
“We’re here for the mistakes to be made now,” he explained.
Law enforcement officers are also trained how to perform life-saving procedures while they are waiting for medical first responders. The lieutenant reminded the training students to include that treatment as part of the exercise.
“Once you’ve stopped the killing, next is stopping the dying,” Ransom
said.
