Editorial: Police preparation critical given randomness of shooting incidents

Members of the Palm Beach Police Department take part in active shooter training at Palm Beach Public School on June 17.
Members of the Palm Beach Police Department take part in active shooter training at Palm Beach Public School on June 17.

Seconds count.

Palm Beach Police officials know this. That is why training exercises — and in particular, active shooter training — are routine.

Two days of active shooter training recently at Palm Beach Public School came against the background of mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 14  and at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.

“We try to be as prepared as possible for any possible tragedy,” said police spokesman Capt. Will Rothrock. Other sessions are scheduled next month at Palm Beach Day Academy.

Police train at schools when students are out on break, and they also conduct training at churches, synagogues and other locations on the island. The randomness of mass shootings means no place is safe.

The numerous drills include training with multiple officers all the way down to what actions to take if you are the first and only officer on the scene.

Law enforcement officials in Uvalde have been criticized for not confronting the heavily armed shooter for more than an hour. That rampage left 19 children and two teachers dead. Ten people, all of them Black, were killed May 14 at a Buffalo grocery store when they were targeted by an avowed white supremacist.

In addition to field training, Palm Beach officers have technology to aid their effort. The Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation, a citizen support group that is not found in many other places, gave $300,000 to the department two years ago to buy a Vir-Tra 300 training simulator that presents 284 scenarios that officers could face in real life.

A bipartisan gun bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on Saturday could help stem gun violence. The deal includes support for mental health services and changes to the process of buying a gun for those 18 to 21. The shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde were 18.

Though the bill falls short of the more restrictive measures Democrats wanted, it is the most significant bill in decades.

We all hope that Palm Beach police officers will never get the call where they have to lean into their active shooter training, but it is good to know they are prepared if it comes.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Editorial: Police preparation critical given randomness of active shooter incidents