COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — The Colbert County Sheriff’s Office hosted an active shooter training at Colbert County High School on Friday morning.
“In a real-life scenario, our SROs will be the first to neutralize the threat, and that is our goal is to neutralize the threat as soon as possible,” Sheriff Eric Balentine said.
As terrible as it is to imagine, local law enforcement and school resource officers have to act as if the worst-case scenario were playing out in front of them.
For Colbert County law enforcement, the drill was all about preparedness in case there’s an active shooter at an area school.
Colbert County Schools Safety and Security Coordinator, Brad Counce, said the simulations in training are key.
“We never know, until you actually see them and feel that stress level with actual people acting like they’re wounded and people yelling and screaming,” Counce said.
Balentine said he and his agency host training every year before school starts.
“We are looking for deficiencies, and where we need to make improvements, that’s our biggest goal today is to see what we can do to make it better,” Balentine said.
This year, several first responders ran different scenarios.
“This year we decided we are going to run every SRO that we have through the scenarios to get them that experience and that training,” Counce said.
Balentine said safety at the schools in the county is his first priority.
“I want to be sure these children are safe, I want to make sure the faculty is safe, and I want them to know that we are doing everything we can,” Balentine said.
Deputies, officers and other first responders are ready to respond if anything were to happen.
“We want to make a presence where if someone even thought about intruding or doing something at our schools, they’ll think twice,” Counce said.
Every school in the Colbert County School system has an armed student resource officer on every campus. Colbert County is set to begin its school year, Monday, August 4.
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