BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – School safety is obviously a major priority for families, so this training is incredibly important and made to be as lifelike as possible.
The hallways of Cypress Bay High School became the scene of an active shooter training session on Tuesday, meant to prepare school resource officers for the worst.
Capt. Anthony DeMarco oversees the juvenile programs for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, so the training of school resource officers falls under watchful eyes.
“They better know the campus better than the assailant does,” DeMarco said.
Over a three-week period, his deputies will be spending time in the classroom, on the range and in the hallways acting out scenarios that Broward County unfortunately knows all too well.
“They’re going to be the only ones there probably for a minute or so, so they’re getting the information tools and training that they need to engage that individual until the cavalry comes.”
Leading the training is Deputy Richard Saito.
He and other SWAT instructors are in the red shirts making sure the the school resource officers know everything from clearing a hallway to treating the injured.
“I too have students that go to Broward County Schools,” DeMarco said. “These could be my children that are here and that’s why we train. We train for the day that we hope never happens.”
The scenarios are lifelike so they were using real guns, but with special bullets that are essentially blanks.
The training right now is only for school resource officers, but soon the entire department will be doing the training to make sure they are all properly prepared.