Local University Police Train for School Shootings

From http://www.wcnc.com by RAD BERKY, February 27, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A shooting at a high school outside Cleveland, Ohio is another example of why police are now training more and more on how to handle a situation that used to be unthinkable.

“You just can’t sit and wait for something to happen. You have to be ready at a moments notice,” said Josh Huffman of the University of North Carolina Charlotte’s police SWAT team.

UNC Charlotte is one of a number of schools across the country to establish their own SWAT teams. They train in some of the very buildings on campus where they might one day be called upon to save lives.

“In the event there is an active shooter on campus we will be deployed,” Huffman said.

Officers train to break down doors that are locked or chained, as they were during the Virginia Tech shootings.

Since Columbine in 1999, there have been other changes too. Officers no longer wait to set up a perimeter at a school where there is an active shooter and then wait for other officers to arrive.

First responders are now trained to immediately go into a building and try to stop the shooter so that he or she does not have time to reload and go after more victims.

“That is our main focus,” Huffman said. “To prevent the loss of life and stop a threat if there is one on the campus.”