Preparing for emergencies
is to stop a shooter. Those first officers won’t stop to assess injuries. With each additional minute that passes that they have not detained the gunman, that’s one more life that could be on the brink because of it. You have to stop the threat.”
Responders from the Catoosa County Fire Department, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department, Dalton Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Hamilton Emergency Medical Services, Puckett Emergency Medical Services, Ringgold Police Department, and the Tunnel Hill Police Department participated in the event. “There were even some of the responders who came on a volunteer basis to take part,” added Mcconathy. “It just goes to show just how important this kind of thing is.”
Although the drill organizers were still breaking down the data from the drill days after the drill, students on hand had their results immediately. “When the weapons discharged, it grabbed the attention of all of our students,” said Leyssens. “I’ve taken part in several disaster drills. However, this was my first active shooter drill. This drill really helped train emergency responders as well as my students going into the field. I really feel like it has the potential to help keep our campuses safer than others. You just don’t hear about a lot of drills taking place like this at other colleges.”
In Calhoun, Ga., in October 2017, GNTC’S Gordon County Campus hosted an active shooter drill. The college’s Floyd County Cam- pus was the site of a similar event in 2014 in Rome, Ga. In 2011, the Walker County Campus of GNTC also hosted a similar exercise in which authorities across the region responded to the drill at the Rock Spring, Georgia facilities.