BUTTE — Bullet casings on the floor, the sounds of panic, even fake blood: Butte Law Enforcement is trying to make an active shooter scenario seem very realistic so in the event of an actual school shooting, police will be ready.
“It’s a realistic scenario, it’s a stressful scenario and that’s how you learn is in training. If there is going to be a mistake we want to make it during training so we don’t repeat it during an actual situation,” said Butte Sheriff Ed Lester.
Butte police used an empty Kennedy Elementary School building to conduct the training that involved an active shooter in the school. The drill involved an officer arriving at the school alone and immediately going after the shooter.
“I did ok. I could’ve been better,” said Butte Police Officer Joseph Lubick after running the drill.
Officer Lubick said it’s important for officers to scrutinize themselves in training for the possibility of a mass shooting.
“You realize once your scenario’s over and you’re debriefing how you did, you think, ‘Ah, I should have done this better, I could’ve done this better,’” said Lubick.
When confronting an active shooter situation, police are trained to not hesitate.
“Time is the critical element. The less time the suspect has to take action and create that threat, the less casualties we have, so we always want to confront that threat and eliminate that threat as quickly as we possibly can,” Sheriff Lester said.
