Nearly a year after the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School, Barrow County deputies returned to local schools to conduct training for active shooter situations.
The training, observed exclusively by Channel 2’s Michael Doudna on Friday, focused on preparing first responders for the unthinkable by updating strategies to save lives.
Previously, medical personnel waited until law enforcement cleared a building before entering, but this approach has changed to allow for quicker medical response.
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“Our primary goals are to stop the killing and then stop the dying,” said Captain Vince Henderson of the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, who helped run the training.
John Skinner, Chief of Safety and Security for Barrow County Schools, emphasized the importance of the training, saying, “This is huge in terms of life and death.”
The training involved creating “bubbles of safety” where medical personnel could begin triaging patients even before a building was fully cleared. This approach allows for faster medical intervention, potentially saving more lives in critical situations.
“When the med units come in, if they see the back of a law enforcement officer, they should be able to operate in that space,” Henderson said.
This method was put into practice during the Apalachee shooting last year, potentially saving lives.
“You have to continually train on this kind of thing. So, and things change, scenes change, operations change,” Henderson said.
Since then, the school district has made sure to involve teachers to be better prepared.
“What they get to learn, kind of expect, and they get to see and see things, hear things that you don’t want to see and hear, but that helps them with being prepared,” Skinner said.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith says almost every single principal out here has reached out to take part in a similar training, and says the collaboration and the buy-in from everyone involved should make everyone safer.
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