The Southborough Police Department posted on Facebook about a special training they took part in yesterday. The training an “Active Shooter” incident either in the schools or in the community.
The training took place at Trottier Middle School and the post included several photos.
I’m assuming I won’t be alone in having a mixed emotional reaction to this one. I’m grateful that the department is taking the need for such trainings seriously. But the images were a gut-wrenching reminder of why they need to do it.
The Facebook post explains:
Members of the Southborough Police Department participated in an Active Shooter training exercise at Trottier Middle School in Southborough, today. The training consisted of a classroom session in the morning and practical exercises using simunition guns in the afternoon.
This type of training provides us with an opportunity to review our policies and procedures with our officers, and is very important for building confidence and focus on decision-making skills under stressful circumstances. This training also helps to develop valuable skills needed to respond to critical incidents within the community, as well.
Our officers did an excellent job demonstrating appropriate responses to an active threat without delay.
Today’s training exercise is part of the department’s ongoing efforts to train our department on how to respond and handle a worst case scenario at one of our schools. Our goal through all active shooter training will be to improve response times and life-saving tactics.
We want to thank Superintendent Greg Martineau, Trottier Principal Gary Hreschuk, and the Trottier staff for allowing us to use the school for our training.
I’m including a link (here) rather than importing any of the images. Seeing the guns being pointed in our own school halls and classrooms really triggered an emotional response for me. So I’m leaving it for readers to decide for themselves whether or not they want to see them.
