LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — As a new school year begins, the Lee County Sheriff's Office is conducting intensive training to prepare for potential threats in schools.
Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp went alongside deputies during their active shooter training to see firsthand how they prepare to protect students:
The Lee County Sheriff's Office conducts active shooter training multiple times throughout the year, even when school isn't in session. Each training presents deputies with different scenarios to ensure they're prepared for various threats.
During a recent training at Harns Marsh Middle School, deputies practiced responding to an active shooter in a school hallway. The exercise included fake gunshots and screaming to create a realistic environment.
"We're learning best practices based on incidents that have happened real world," said Daniel Greenup, Commander of the Youth Services Unit who oversees the school resource officers.
After each simulation, the team discusses what went well and identifies areas for improvement.
"Once you take that guy down, someone's got to be contact, someone's got to be cover," an instructor told deputies during the debrief.
The sheriff's office conducts these trainings seven times annually, regularly changing scenarios to address emerging threats.
"We may add different scenarios based on what may have happened recently or a trend we think we want to overcome," Greenup said.
The training isn't limited to hallway scenarios. Deputies also practice responding to threats on school buses, where confined spaces create different tactical challenges.
"Priorities of life are the biggest and important things," a training officer emphasized during the bus exercise.
K-9 units also participate in the training, demonstrating how they can detect weapons and ammunition hidden in schools.
During an actual emergency, school resource officers have additional support from the Real Time Intelligence Center.
"You're seeing it from a deputy's perspective, but what's actually happening simultaneously is there's someone in the real time intelligence center and they're actually watching over 11,000 cameras that we may have access to," Greenup said.
While this training helps prepare law enforcement to respond effectively and potentially reduce casualties during an actual incident, Greenup stress that prevention requires community involvement.
"Focus on what your children are looking at online, make sure that you have an understanding of who they're talking to," Greenup said.
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