TPD, TCSO attend active shooter training

Jill Holloway, Thomasville Times-Enterprise, Ga.
·3 min read

Jul. 11—THOMASVILLE- Tuesday morning, Thomasville Police Department, Thomas County Sheriff's Office, school resource officers and the Tallahassee division of the US Marshalls Office took part in an ALERRT Active Shooter Training at Thomas County Middle School.

The course covers shooting and moving, threshold evaluation, concepts and principles of team movement, setting up for and room entry techniques, approach and breaching the crisis site, secondary responder tactics and post engagement priorities of work.

According to TCSO Captain Tim Watkins, the officers partook in several exercises during the two-day course.

"Yesterday was the classroom portion and training exercises, and today (Tuesday) will be a practical, so they will actually use ammunition and weapons that were provided to us by ALERRT," Watkins said. "We will take those weapons and ammunition and engage them in the scenario with the role players."

The scenarios varied widely from irate parents to misunderstood and bullied teenagers.

While the ALERRT training took place at TCMS, Watkins assured that all responding officers and deputies were prepared for scenarios at any school.

"The SWAT team has actually gone through every school in the city and the county and prepared a plan for every school in the event we have an incident at a school in the city or county," Watkins said.

Brookwood was also included in these walk-thrus. However, TCMS was chosen due to its dual hallways, making it more training-friendly than a regular facility.

During the training at TCMS, Watkins said the teams came together to address a number of issues related to school shootings that are not often considered in immediate planning.

"You have to not only plan for the shooting itself, but how do you block the roadways and not allow people into these areas," Watkins said. "We found that during the TikTok challenges in Valdosta with the false shootings, every parent in town was trying to bombard the schools."

Watkins said this unfortunate situation pointed out a very real issue that officers could face in the event of a shooting.

"Now, not only aren't we able to get to the possible shooter due to parents blocking the way, but emergency services can't respond," Watkins explained. "We have to develop a plan for that, evacuation and reunification."

Watkins acknowledged the new school safety badges Thomas County Board of Education recently approved will be of great assistance in events such as these. The badges will continue to allow school resource officers to be the first point of contact, while communicating with uniformed officers.

"SWAT isn't going to get here in time to diffuse the situation, so we have to rely on the school resource officers and uniformed officers that will be responding that day," Watkins said. "If they say there's an active shooter anywhere, everybody is coming. That's why we wanted to get everyone together and familiar."

Watkins thanked ALERRT for hosting the training and TCMS for allowing the use of the facility. While he hopes this is never something he and his team have to respond to, he was grateful for all of the valuable tips and tools officers were able to gain when approaching any type of active shooting.