By Tomas Flores
Between 2000 and 2022, there were 1,375 school shootings, resulting in 1,676 casualties. For the school year 2021 to 2022 alone, there were 327 shootings. These statistics include only public and private elementary and secondary schools. Additionally, there were 190 shootings at the college level, which resulted in 437 casualties. As of July 11, 2024, there have been 35 school shootings this year, with nine of those occurring on college campuses.
Following the 1999 Columbine school shooting, 40 states mandated active shooter drills. However, three states have since reversed their legislation, citing the long-term mental damage caused to participants. Realistic drills can involve flash-bang grenades, acting victims covered in blood, and sometimes thousands of blank rounds fired, sounding like live ammunition.
New York is among a handful of states seeking to move away from these realistic drills to less traumatic alternatives while emphasizing the importance of preparedness. A study by Georgia Tech and Everytown revealed that students suffered trauma, depression, anxiety and fear of death after these drills.
Unfortunately, only a few studies have been conducted on this subject, resulting in many states not adjusting their approach to these drills or prohibiting student and staff participation. On the other side of the coin, according to a Frontline documentary on the Uvalde, Texas, shooting in May 2022, school children were better trained than the 116 officers who responded to the tragedy.
The aftermath saw the state of Texas enact Senate Bill 1852 on Sept. 1, 2023; it mandates the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) to require peace officers to undergo recurring school shooter training. No other state requires additional training after the police academy, except for Michigan, which requires it once more during an officer’s career.
TCOLE has standardized its training and administers the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response (ALERRT) program through Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has recognized the ALERRT Program as the national standard for active shooter training.
In Texas, this training includes tribal agencies, border patrol, sheriff’s offices, state police, school police, and all state law enforcement agencies, with drills conducted in Hamilton, Kyle, Waco, Stafford, Boerne, Lubbock and various other Texas cities and communities.
The Uvalde school shooting, although tragic, provided investigators with a significant amount of evidence related to the police response. Various investigative agencies such as the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Texas Ranger Division analyzed the data.
Before officials could determine if criminal charges would be issued, news outlets such as ProPublica, in collaboration with the Texas Tribune and PBS/Frontline (Inside the Uvalde Response), were allowed to review the evidence. Shortcomings identified included problems with communication channels and the absence of a command structure.
“We’ve been upgrading our communications system; we just moved from analog to digital, which makes communications faster,” said Lt. Michael Guzman of the El Paso Community College police department. “We also use CAD - computer-aided dispatch. That system is run by nine-one-one - with every law agency on that system.”
Lt. Guzman also said it is now standardized practice for the first officer(s) on the scene to establish a command post as part of their training. There are no jurisdictional wrestling matches like those that occurred in times past at various shootings. Officers who are familiar with their beat or backyard are the individuals who give directions to all other responders.
EPCC has had many officers dedicated to going above and beyond for years. Three of them
have completed ALERRT’s train-the-trainer course and are now qualified to teach active shooter Level 1 courses to any peace officer in the nation. They include Guzman, Officer II Raul Jacobo, and Officer II Daniel Chavez.
“I started my first active shooter training - prior to ALERRT, prior to Uvalde, this was back in, I believe 2014 to 2015,” said Jacobo, his police career beginnings in Horizon City, Texas. “They were practicing at our schools – from Horizon Middle to Horizon High School.” Jacob shared that the training was all voluntary at the time.
According to EPCC Police Chief Jose Ramirez, “Here, with us in Texas, we’re a lot further …ahead of the other states. Some of the things that the other states are trying now, we’ve been doing them for years.” He also mentioned that with mandatory training, “What happens with any skill, if you don’t practice then you lose a certain percentage of the ability… by keeping current, and by having that training every two years, those skills are always – Sharp.”
The EPCC police department conducts local active shooter training every two years, and they involve the chief, officers, dispatchers and emergency management personnel and cover every campus in turn.
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