Staff photos / R. Michael Semple Vienna patrolman and Matthews student resource officer Austin Kennedy, left, and Austintown patrolman Chris Pasvanis participate in an Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training exercise at the closed Union Elementary School in Poland.

POLAND — Detective Sgt. Rob Whited gets right to the point of the goal behind training for an active shooter: “It’s to stop the killing, stop the dying.”

Whited, of the Austintown Police Department, was among the facilitators and trainers at an Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) session at the closed Poland Union Elementary School on Riverside Drive.

Some 15 officers, as well as several trainers, representing departments in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, participated last week in the training, which is ongoing. They were from the Poland, Struthers, Vienna, Liberty, Austintown, St. Clair Township and Warren police departments. Presenting the sessions is the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force.

The sessions also come on the heels of two recent mass shootings in California, one each in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, that left a total of 18 dead.

MANY SCENARIOS

During Wednesday’s training, the officers, individually and then in teams wearing masks and other tactical gear, reacted to a variety of scenarios. These simulated active-shooter situations took place in the hallway and in a few classrooms.

They were instructed to respond to often loud, echoey commands that

entailed arresting the “bad guy” and ending the threat, tending to an injured person, taking cover and checking certain areas. In one scenario, four trainees carried an “injured” person out of the building to safety.

They also were “armed” with rubber training guns equipped with plastic projectiles that simulated 9 mm bullets and, in part, contained dish detergent that left a mark where they struck. That aspect of the training was significant because it pointed to the importance of an officer — even if injured and able — continuing to try to stop the shooter, Whited noted.

He and the other trainers declined, however, to divulge specific tactics.

In addition to securing the shooter, those who respond to such tragedies need to have basic medical training, such as applying tourniquets to stanch an injured person’s bleeding until paramedics can treat that person, explained Whited, who began with the department in 1995 as a reserve officer.

FAST ACTION

All of that and more must be performed often with little time to act, he said, adding that part of the training includes safely reuniting students and their parents.

“When they hear ‘shots fired,’ they have to go in to neutralize the shooter as soon as possible,” patrolman Chris Pasvanis of the Austintown Police Department, observed.

Others who appreciated the scenario-based training included officer Brandon Johnson, who’s served 18 months with the Austintown Police Department. He also pointed to the value of teamwork and collaborating with other first responders.

“It’s important to work with other officers as expeditiously as possible,” he said.

“If something happens at the schools, I think it’s helpful in terms of refreshing my tactics and how to handle things,” added Jim Newton, who has served nearly 28 years with the Liberty Police Department.

Newton, who also is a school resource officer, called the ALERRT training “one of the gold standards.”

USE OF BUILDING

Among those grateful for the training sessions is Poland schools Superintendent Craig Hockenberry, who said the closed school will be used for law-enforcement training purposes.

The district trains teachers to handle possible events. Part of that training includes instruction on how and when to use fight-or-flight responses, Hockenberry said. He noted that if a situation occurred in one of the schools, first responders from 30 to 40 police and other organizations and agencies would provide mutual aid.

The district also implements lockdown drills about once per month, and holds roundtable gatherings with law enforcement regularly, he said. In addition, school officials have yearly “tabletop” sessions during which a topic related to law enforcement is selected then used throughout the school year, Hockenberry continued.

To avoid frightening especially elementary school students about such procedures, efforts are made to inform the children and their parents ahead of time, the superintendent noted.

“I feel it is so important to constantly partner to help law enforcement,” Hockenberry said, adding that the district has three or four school resource officers.

Whited also has taught an ALERRT component in the Austintown schools called the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events, part of which encourages school personnel to recognize and get help for a troubled person before an active shooting takes place.

In addition, CRASE offers strategies, guidance and a plan for surviving such tragedies, with topics such as civilian response options and medical issues, according to ALERRT’s website. The ALERRT program began a few years after the April 20, 1999, mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and continues to grow and adapt to best handle the spate of such tragedies, Whited explained.

“We’re truly trying to save lives at a higher level,” he said, adding: “We’re always evolving.”