A cursory calculation of school incidents show 11 shootings on American school grounds in January 2014– that’s one shooting every three days somewhere in the United States this last month.
More money and more school resource officers have been directed to combat the problem but Sheriff Joe Arpaio believes training of his deputies and volunteer posse – first responders to school shootings should they occur in his jurisdiction – is what may save more lives than anything else.
“2014 got off to a bad start in terms of the number of school shootings already but fortunately, loss of life has been very low so far. I’d like to think that the kind of training we are doing here at the Sheriff’s Office is being done elsewhere and we are better trained at handling these kinds of situations.”
On Saturday, February 8, 2014, Sheriff Arpaio has ordered numerous deputies to participate in an active school shooting preparedness day.
Heritage Elementary School at 6805 North 125thAvenue in Glendale, AZ will be the scene of this, the third active shooting training program for Sheriff’s personnel in the last year.
Saturday’s day long program will focus more on the training of sworn deputies who will supervise the overall law enforcement response to a school shooting where both deputies and posse are first line responders.
According to Arpaio, dozens of posse personnel have already been trained in the active school shooting protocols. They were first in line for training which began shortly after the Sandy Hook Connecticut school shooting so they could be immediately dispatched to the volunteer posse program Arpaio started in January 2013. That posse program aimed at providing an increased law enforcement presence around schools to deter potential violence. It’s still in operation today.
Saturday’s training will include a simulated school shooting scenario involving several young student volunteers. Sheriff’s deputies and posse participants will use semi-automatic rifles and handguns utilizing simunitions (projectiles which are marking rounds rather than bullets). Instructors from the Sheriff’s SWAT division as well as nationally recognized sharp shooter and martial arts expert, actor Steven Seagal, will also teach a number of course components.
“I’ve taken a lot of criticism using Mr. Seagal as a trainer,” Arpaio said. “Some people, including a few elected officials who went on record blasting his participation, need to understand Seagal is a professional police trainer. That he is also an actor is inconsequential to our purposes in using his expertise to help keep our children and our schools safe.”
Media will be allowed to shoot the active shooter scenario. Be in place at 1:15PM in LOCATION to interview the Sheriff before being escorted into the school property. The on call PIO for this training is Officer Chris Hegstrom.
Email him at mediarequest@mcso.maricopa.go