GREENSBORO, N.C. — Police responses to active shooter threats such as the Madison, Wisconsin, school shooting on Monday have evolved over the years. 

Authorities have modified their training as such incidents have become more common, and law enforcement agencies routinely practice to hone their responses.

The Greensboro Police Department recently completed its active attacker response training, inviting the media inside for the first time to experience what officers go through.

“Stop the killing first and then stop the dying.” That is the only mission Greensboro Sgt. Jonathan Matthews has for his officers in the event of an active attacker. 

Matthews, who recently helped conduct the active attacker response training for the department's over 600 officers, says one of the first things they ask recruits is whether they could pull the trigger if the situation occurred. 

“Put yourself in this position and have some self-awareness and do some self-analysis and think about how you've responded in the past, how you would respond,” Matthews said. 

The training took more than 20 days and several thousands of dollars for the entire force to complete, with a simulation lasting a few hours and a classroom portion. 

Active attacker response methods have changed drastically since the tragedy at Columbine High School in 1999, Matthews said.

“It was really the first one that played out on national television,” he said. “That gave the public not only an idea of the evil that existed, but also it showed an inadequate police force.”  

Years ago, officers surrounded the building and waited for SWAT to arrive, but strategies have evolved and become more aggressive. 

“The idea of an active rampage-style killing has become very commonplace in America in the last 25 years. And so we are trying to stay kind of ahead of the training curve,” said Greensboro Capt. Kory Flowers. 

After Columbine, officers across the nation began training to neutralize active shooters using a four-person team. But the killings were happening too quickly, with most of the deaths coming in the first 5-10 minutes of an attack. Now, training includes solo officer rapid deployment, meaning the first officer on site is trained to go in alone and take down an attacker.

“Our presence changes everything,” Matthews said. 

Matthews says officers will respond to the scene with lights and sirens and treat it as if their loved ones are inside. He says the quicker they can arrive, the quicker they can turn the hunter into the hunted. 

“Will I run in by myself to a preschool, or will I wait for my partner for 15 seconds? Well, I may not choose to wait,” Flowers said. 

Officers are trained to take on the mission as aggressively as possible, even if that means drawing fire. As long as the attacker is not shooting at an innocent, the mission is on the right path, Matthews said. 

“You can never fully 100% inoculate yourself, your mind, your emotions, your spirit against thinking that you're getting ready to possibly die,” Flowers said. 

The department looks at past events such as the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, where officers took over an hour to enter the classroom where the shooter was, and in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2023, where officers took down the shooter 4 minutes after they arrived. 

“We approach this topic from the idea that there are things in life worse than dying, and a lot of people don't agree with that,” Flowers said. “But if we believe and we tell, we teach our folks, if you're at the moment where you can choose to save innocent folks and you don't, I don't think you can psychologically recover in this lifetime from that decision.”  

Training involves not just tactics but officers' mindset, including an OODA loop, which means observe, orient, decide and act. The quicker officers can move through this loop thought process, the quicker they can act on what is in front of them. 

“We get them comfortable operating in stress so that when they get thrown into the worst day, like one of my pals says, when the devil comes, then they're as ready as we know that we have been able to make them,” Flowers said. 

This year, Greensboro police used an intense "force on force" training for the first time for the entire department. They deployed simulated rounds made of wax and plastic. These rounds are similar to paint balls, leaving a colorful mark upon impact, not only showing where they were hit but also whether the officer would have made it out alive. 

“You feel the pain, you know, when you're behind adequate cover, you know when your rounds are impacting where you want them to go,” Flowers said. 

The department invited media to participate in a simulation Nov. 13 involving two- and four-person formations, where journalists took the role of police and officers played the parts of attackers and hostages, some of whom were injured, screaming and held at gunpoint. 

Greensboro police say all officers across the state are trained with the same tactics. The recent training the department completed will be done every year now instead of every two, after input from officers. 

"There's about 70 schools in the county. So, you know, we recognize anywhere there's vulnerabilities like that, there's a place for evil. And there's also like, well, that like was a place for heroism, nobility,” Flowers said. 

Flowers, who has been with the Greensboro police since 1999, says that he has been in an active shooter situation that lasted hours and that despite the simulations, each situation and the choices made will be different. 

“We tell our folks when you plan, when you make a very rigid plan and then something doesn't go according to your plan, your plan will fall apart as opposed to if you prepare your mindset,” Flowers said. 

In the event of an active attacker, officers face stress, creating an increased heart rate, deteriorating motor skills, rapid breathing and unclear thoughts even as they try to stick to their training on reasonable use of a deadly force against a possible suspect.  

“We teach our folks to control their breathing with a box breathing method. Inhale four count and then hold it four count and then exhale deliberately for a full count,” Flowers said. 

Although officers take the pledge to protect others, they enter these situations knowing they may make the ultimate sacrifice. 

“You're taking the pledge that you're going to voluntarily put yourself between danger and chaos and strangers. Now, if that gives you pause, this may not be the profession for you. And that's OK. But this is the time to make that decision, not at the moment of truth,” Flowers said. 

Flowers says it’s important for officers to take care of their mental health not only for what they have experienced but for the theological and personal hardships that stick with them. 

“It's being honest with each other,” Flowers said. “It's having healthy outlets for that…. the idea of the macho individual that can just hold all this in for years and years, we know now, that's not even real. So you have to have healthy outlets for that working out family life, proper balance.”