DALEVILLE, Ala. (WDHN) — Several Alabama community colleges have been working this week to train for active shooter situations and working on room entry drills and this one left a bang.
Late last month several community colleges throughout the state were forced to evacuate their schools and cancel classes due to bomb threats.
Included in these evacuations were students and faculty at Wallace-Dothan, Enterprise State Community College, and the LBW campuses in both Opp and Andalusia.
This week these community colleges along with Northeast Alabama Community College and Chattahoochee Valley Community College have been preparing for these active threat situations
“Bomb threats we do take seriously,” ESCC Campus Police Chief, Jeff Spence said. “People are starting to incorporate bomb threats into active attacks. So we are changing our protocols on how we respond to those as well.”
On Wednesday, the focus was on room entry and how to enter a room during an active shooter situation, but the officers took the drill outside so they could use live fire.
“Instilling that training behavior to where those officers know what to do when they respond to those types of events,” Chief Spence said.
Chief Spence says that college and school active shooter situations get the most publicity because a child’s life is at stake and he says if a student is weary or scared about going back to school after an active shooter threat, the best thing they can do is be alert.
“Me, myself, and my guys do whenever we see students walking around campus with their heads on their phones,” Chief Spence said. “We say something to them, “Hey, get your head out of your phone. You know and be alert and be aware of things going on around you.'”
Enterprise State has implemented programs for faculty and for students, including next week where faculty and staff will be trained on lockdown procedures and what needs to be done in an active situation.
The different community college police departments tell WDHN that they are trying to do something like this drill every semester. To better prepare for these active threat situations