Authorities train for worst-case school scenario

Armed officers stormed Central Lafourche High School last Wednesday, guns drawn in search of a school shooter.

Meticulously checking each room, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s deputies moved slowly through the school. Minutes later, the call came. An arrest had been made.

Still in tactical mode, the law enforcement team continued its search, securing the perimeter as the shooter was escorted out of the building.

The scenario in last week’s Active Shooter Training was repeated until Lt. Commander Josh Champagne was satisfied with the results.

The program was instituted shortly after the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado in 1999. Its aim is to train first-responders how to react in a situation where gunmen have taken over a school.

Fortunately, since the program’s inception, deputies have not been called upon locally to implement the training.

“We want to ensure that our uniformed officers can respond to any situation instead of waiting for the Crime Management Unit and the SWAT teams. The training is teaching them how to go into the schools and look for a shooter in a safe manner,” said Larry Weidel, the department’s public information officer.

Champagne said the training also involves “officer down drills,” which direct officers on how to respond if another officer is wounded during the search and seizure.

Groups of four or five deputies enter the building shielding each other, while searching for the shooter. Once the shooter is found, the next step is to isolate him, Champagne explained. The search continues from there to secure the area, he said.

“The training is to teach (deputies) how to communicate as they go through the halls. In a real situation there’s chaos and they need to be prepared for that,” Weidel said.

First-time participant and social service officer Carla Beck said the hardest thing was not being able to go directly to the wing of the building from which shots were initially heard.

“We have to stick together as a team and protect one another. We have to make sure the area we are in is safe before moving on to other areas,” she said.

In previous years, a whistle was used to signify the gunshots. At Wednesday’s training, however, various officers fired blank shots throughout the building.

“Hearing the gunshots continuously going off through the training made the situation real and more dynamic for us,” said Detective Barron Cort.

Champagne said by week’s end, more than 100 law enforcement officers from the sheriff’s office experienced the active shooter training. Plans are in the works for the deputies to participate in a larger mock drill later in the year in conjunction with schools, hospitals, traffic controllers and emergency-responders.

“Our goal is to train as many deputies as possible. The more officers we have trained, the faster the response time will be,” Champagne said.