Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Conducts Active Shooter Training With Nassau Schools
Yulee, Fla. – On December 3rd and 4th, educators and public safety officials conducted tabletop exercises at Yulee Middle School focused on the prevention and response to an active shooter incident in an educational facility.
The exercise scenario was developed by the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office & its Emergency Management Team. It was presented to participants who were tasked with determining how the scenario would be handled within Nassau County utilizing current response plans, policies, procedures, and current operational capabilities.
“Exercises such as this are designed to increase operational coordination between all participating agencies, as well as identify capability and preparedness gaps,” said Sheriff Bill Leeper. These gaps will drive future training and exercise actions in order to increase the safety and security of Nassau County schools, and the citizens of the entire county. Lessons learned in conjunction with this training and exercise program, while focused on school district facilities, can also be applied to any business, home, government office, or public spaces within the county. “By training on incidents like these, Nassau County public safety agencies will also be better prepared to assist other communities should they be attacked. The motivation of this extensive program is protecting the precious lives of our children, and those of the citizens of our community,” Leeper said.
Exercise participants included members from:
- Crisis teams from each of the Nassau County’s 15 schools
- The Nassau County School Board
- Nassau County Sheriff’s Office
- Nassau County Fire & Rescue
- Fernandina Beach Police Department
- Fernandina Beach Fire & Rescue
- Florida Division of Emergency Management
These exercises were conducted subsequent to previously delivered active shooter seminars and classroom training, which were attended by school crisis teams and first responders, and represent just one part of the larger overall active shooter training and exercise program.
Exercises will continue through the remainder of the 2015/2016 school year, growing in complexity and involving more role players, culminating in a live real-time full-scale exercise.
As an active participant in the exercise, Emergency Management Director Billy Estep said: “The active-shooter exercise conducted over these two days is one of many multi-agency training sessions conducted over the past year. Exercises of this caliber enhance the coordinated capabilities of all Nassau County public safety agencies, and Nassau County School Board personnel who may be thrust into becoming unwitting first responders should such an event occur.”
