BE PREPARED
Police take part in active-shooter training
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Shots rang out and an armed gunman fell to the floor.
The incident, which lasted all of a few seconds, was repeated numerous times Tuesday as police from multiple agencies took part in an activeshooter training exercise, backstage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Simulated real-life situations helps officers know what to expect, how to react and hopefully prevent dangerous incidents from becoming tragedies.
“Something like this is usually over in five to 15 minutes,” said Lt. Shane Crooks, of Saratoga Springs Police Department. “The initial response is probably going to be one or two officers right away. Every gun shot is someone dying, so they have to go in. By doing this type of training ahead of time we’re preparing.”
State parks police, state troopers and Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office deputies are also participating in the week-long exercise that began Monday and concludes Friday. Officers are put through a variety of scenarios, both day and
night, inside and out.
Tuesday’s mock incident saw officers enter the SPAC amphitheater through a rear loading dock door. With weapons drawn, they slowly proceeded down a long hallway, clearing one room at a time, in search of the shooter.
“The mission is to stop the shooting and stop the killing,” said state parks Lt. Donald Benware. “It happens everywhere. This is our home, this is our responsibility. That’s why we’re choosing this venue.”
“Any place where you have a large gathering increases the risk of attack,” Crooks said.
SPAC and Saratoga Race Course attract crowds numbering in the tens of thousands of people, which makes force-on-force training especially critical for local police.
Officers are armed with special training weapons that fire non-lethal 9mm Simunition rounds to make the exercise as realistic as possible. Police are fully outfitted head to toe with protective gear, but will know it if they’re struck.
In most cases, officers aren’t hit. But the possibility makes their physical, mental and emotional reactions almost the same as an actual incident.
“We’re all human beings,” Crooks said. “We put officers at a high stress level so if they are involved in a high stress incident they can function.”
“We put the adrenaline level up so they can feel that rush and make sound decisions and then come down and get refocused,” Benware said.
Involving multiple police agencies also helps officers communicate and work together more effectively when responding to an incident.
“I may not work with the city PD or state troopers all the time and then all of a sudden you’re thrust into something,” Benware said. “By doing these different scenarios, we all get to see faces, know different names and people, and how people react in situations. It gives you a little bit of confidence, a little bit of an edge in a worst-case scenario where you have to respond to something like this.”
Police create training scenarios based on real shooting incidents, which have occurred with alarming frequency throughout the U.S. and overseas. The deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history occurred last Oct. 1 in Las Vegas when a gunman opened fire on concert-goers, killing 58 people and injuring 851 others before killing himself.
“Any time something happens we evaluate it, reevaluate our training and change our techniques so we can better prepare officers to respond,” Crooks said. “It can happen.”