| The first responders get ready to enter the high school for a training exercise. At left: Deputy Kay Jensen, Sgt. Les Wilberg, Deputy Shaun Bell and Deputy Mike Jorgensen. |
The Emery High Drama department takes great delight in confusing the Emery County Sheriff’s Office. The group works together each year to present a mock scenario that everyone hopes will never happen.
Emery County Sheriff LaMar Guymon said, “We enjoy this working relationship with Neal Peacock and the drama students. They help to train our officers and we never know in advance what they are going to have set up for us. They have devised a number of scenarios over the years. This year in particular there were many surprises awaiting the entry team.
“Our emergency response team is made up solely of deputy volunteers. The deputies aren’t compensated for participating in these extra drills and training sessions. Our men are to be commended for the job they do in keeping themselves prepared for the unexpected.
“We can train and train and train and we will continue to do that, but every situation is totally different. At this training the drama department had set up a situation where there were 10 active The Emery High Drama department takes great delight in confusing the Emery County Sheriff’s Office. The group works together each year to present a mock scenario that everyone hopes will never happen.
Emery County Sheriff LaMar Guymon said, “We enjoy this working relationship with Neal Peacock and the drama students. They help to train our officers and we never know in advance what they are going to have set up for us. They have devised a number of scenarios over the years. This year in particular there were many surprises awaiting the entry team.
“Our emergency response team is made up solely of deputy volunteers. The deputies aren’t compensated for participating in these extra drills and training sessions. Our men are to be commended for the job they do in keeping themselves prepared for the unexpected.
“We can train and train and train and we will continue to do that, but every situation is totally different. At this training the drama department had set up a situation where there were 10 active shooters and the majority of them were female.
| Clayton Bell keeps an eye on the shooter in the ceiling. |
“One thing we decided to handle differently this year was the initial call. When the call comes into dispatch then only the available on duty crew will be dispersed to the scene. The back up will consist of the emergency response team, but that team will show up on scene after the initial response team. The on duty deputies at the time will be the first responders to the scene. In any real event, this would be the sequence of events.
“In a situation with an active shooter, the main goal of the initial team going in is to locate the shooter or shooters and eliminate the threat. In this particular scenario this day, with so many shooters, there was very little that could be done. Two of the shooters also held several hostages in the center of the gymnasium. There was no way a sniper could even reach these shooters without causing harm to the hostages.
“Another situation we haven’t faced before was shots being fired from the ceiling area of the gymnasium. The best way to deal with the shooters in the roof was the dispersement of tear gas which would make the air in the crawl space unbreathable and the shooter would then have to retreat from the ceiling area.
“These students make these training scenes very realistic. One thing the students don’t understand is the initial response team isn’t there to help the injured students. That initial team deals with removing that threat and that is their only job. They will move through the building very quickly and go immediately to the scene of any possible active shooting.
“It is very hard for the students to be ignored especially when they are suffering from injuries. The subsequent teams into the building will deal with wounded and getting them out to the EMTs. No EMTs are allowed into the building until the building is secure and the threat has been eliminated.
“This was a very bad day for us and many casualties resulted because the number of shooters was so high. Realistically there aren’t usually cases where there have been a high number of shooters. One situation that comes to mind was a terrorist situation in Russia where an entire school was invaded by terrorists.
“We don’t like to think about situations like this and it is hard for everyone. But, we believe our best defense is to be prepared and to expect the worse, but hope for the best,” said Sheriff Guymon.