MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — In the face of recent mass shootings in schools, active shooter training is more important than ever. With schools starting up again soon, law enforcement is doing its best to make sure students feel safe.
North Carolina law enforcement is undergoing active shooter training before kids return to school
Carteret County officials trained over 150 law enforcement officers over two days
They went through intense simulations to practice their responses
Superintendent Rob Jackson says Carteret County is investing in school resource officers and extra security
Morehead City police officer Cassidy Clark went through active shooter training last month. She said it is especially important in today's culture.
“You just never know,” Clark said. “It could happen tomorrow. It could happen today. Just to have that training I think is definitely needed for everybody.”
It's a difficult situation to be in, but it's sadly an important part of her job.
“People are yelling at you for help. You hear guns going off in the distance,” Clark said while describing the training. “You're going towards that threat so it's hard to, it's definitely hard to cope with all of that. But at the end of the day, you're working towards that threat and trying to eliminate it.”
Clark has been a police officer for the past three years, but this was the first active shooter training she's been through.
“You work how you train, and if you keep training, the consistency, it's gonna be there,” Clark said. “It's definitely needed when you're dealing with a situation like this.”
Last month in Carteret County, officials took two days to train over 150 law enforcement officers in the community. Sheriff Asa Buck says it's important to know how to protect the most precious and vulnerable resources in our society: children.
“We hope and pray that nothing happens at our schools like we've seen across our nation,” Buck said. “But if something were to transpire, we want to be in the best position that we can be to respond to that threat and to eliminate any active shooter just as quickly and efficiently as we can.”
Carteret County Schools superintendent Rob Jackson says the county is investing in school resource officers and extra cameras and security.
“So we're really investing thanks to our partnership with our community partners and our municipalities, in the safety of our buildings, in the hardening of our schools so to speak,” Jackson said. “But at the same time really working on the collaboration and community building so that we're also engendering that feeling of safety. So our students come to school and they feel safe. So they feel like this is a place where I can come to learn and be with my friends and the teachers who love me.”
Despite recent school shootings, including the one in Uvalde, Texas, in May, law enforcement training for active shooter situations hasn't changed much. However, Buck says years ago it was geared toward working in groups, but now officers are taught to eliminate the threat no matter what — even if they're alone.
“How many lives could be taken away in 20 minutes?” Clark said. “If you're first on scene they want you to be comfortable pushing through that scene even if you don't have backup.”
Clark says she definitely feels more prepared after the active shooter training, but she understands there will always be a level of the unknown in situations like this in the real world.
“At the end of the day you want to try to stop the threat,” Clark said. “You want to save as many lives as you can because that's what we're here for. The other people, you have to realize that they don't have guns. They didn't wake up today. They didn't wake up today and put on this uniform knowing they have a gun. They expect us to protect them and that's what we're here for at the end of the day.”
Active shooter training has been happening all across the state leading up to the start of the school year. Officials say law enforcement can never be too prepared.