School Shooter Safety Training
By: Kelli Carlisle
Updated: June 21, 2007
A school shooting is something no one wants to think about, but it does happen.
Owensboro police are training for such a scenario, to keep kids safe in case it ever happens.
Guns inside a school. Its an unsettling sight, but not always an uncommon one.
Learning from school shootings in the past has members of the Owensboro Police Department, and other local law enforcement training together.
OFC. COSGROVE: "Theres always new ways to do things, and new things we can add to our training, to bring it up to speed to the crises that are out there."
In the past, officers were trained to set up a perimeter around the building at a threatening situation, and wait for a specialized team.
Slowly they would move through, clearing the scene inch by inch.
But just as officers train, so do criminals, and those on a killing spree waste little time.
This is forcing police to change their tactics.
COSGROVE: "If they could hear the shooting going on inside the school, they would form a small cell themselves and move immediately to the threat and negotiate the threat."
Just as its important for parents to know the threats that face their kids, its just as important for police to know the latest tactics among criminals. Thats why training like this is so crucial.
COSGROVE: "Thats why our training will never end"
