Trained to protect, ready to serve

Jefferson's law enforcement receives active shooter training

Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.

On Friday, March 22, multiple law enforcement agencies that protect and serve Jefferson County gathered at the Jefferson Somerset campus.
The school was empty due to spring break, and the deputies and officers received active shooter training from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
In the empty school campus, law enforcement officers were drilled on various tactics and safety procedures that will assist the officer in defending and protecting the school, should an active shooter scenario ever take place.
In 10 years, school shooting incidents having increased from 35 incidents a year (2008) to 97 incidents a year (2018). In 2019 alone, there have already been 20 incidents related to school shootings.
Florida is also the state with the third largest number of incidents that have occurred within the last 50 years; California leads with 158 shooting-related incidents, Texas comes in second with 133 and Florida takes third with 88 school shooting-related incidents since 1970.
In the name of being proactive, and to ensure that their officers and deputies are fittingly trained to handle any potential threat at the Jefferson County schools, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and Monticello Police Department sent their law officers out to Jefferson Somerset.
The active shooter training was overseen by FDLE Inspector Brian Gaynor. Officers and deputies were instructed and drilled on how to engage in a proper search and clearing of a school under lockdown in the scenario of an active shooter.
From 8 a.m. until well into the afternoon, law enforcement officers trained in and out of different classrooms and hallways at Jefferson Somerset.
This will be the second year that the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has organized this training session for their deputies as well as for other law enforcement agencies who serve Monticello and Jefferson County.
After the training was held at the Somerset Academy, officers were given a walk-through of Aucilla Christian Academy to highlight potential safety issues and how to engage those problems.