Gunfire will be heard coming from the Doniphan R-I campus July 13, but it will all be part of a simulation exercise to teach school officials and local law enforcement how to respond in the event of an active shooter.
The training will be the first in a series of proactive steps the district is taking to protect its students and create a safer environment.
During the June 27 meeting of the board, R-I Administrator Brad Hagood said the Missouri State Highway Patrol contacted him about setting up the activity, which will recruit volunteers from the R-I staff and board.
The Ripley County Sheriff’s Department and the Doniphan Police Department will also take part in the simulation exercise, which according to MSHP Officer Shayne Talburt, “will be as true to life as we can possibly make it.”
There will be blanks fired from marked training rifles to simulate live fire, airsoft guns and simulated blood, said Talburt.
Troop E will enact eight hours of training consisting of four pre-planned scenarios with an active shooter, but although local officers know the date of the training, they will not know what the scenarios will consist of, or who the active shooter will be.
The eight-hour threat simulation course is part of a Missouri State Highway Patrol emergency preparedness program, said Talburt.
“This is something we are trying to do across Southeast Missouri in our schools,” he said.
The goal of the project is two-fold: to be proactive in regard to helping schools amp up campus security, and also to train local law enforcement departments how to respond quickly, identify and disarm a shooter, and save lives.
Talburt said, “The simulation will be a high stress scenario for law enforcement officers” who will be required to think on their feet and work as a team.
“Part of the training will involve how to do link-ups, so that everyone is on the same page,” he explained.
He said it is vital during an active shooter situation that everyone knows what his or her role should be to avoid adverse outcomes such as friendly fire.
There will be some first aid training as well.
The course will also feature use of the “Milo machine.” MILO is a virtual interactive decision-making simulator used by the government and military.
Talburt explained the plan to go into schools and do simulated threat trainings came about as a result of active shooter courses troopers attended at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Some of the troopers who took the course became instructors.
At the FLETC training, professional actors were hired for the simulation exercise.
Talburt said with regard to the ways schools can better protect themselves, nothing is more important than locked doors.
“Locked doors save lives.”
R-I anticipates an upgrade of its phone and intercom systems over the next several months, which should also play a leading role in enhancing campus security.
The district applied for and received a COPS grant, which Dr. Jay Fish recently told the Doniphan R-I Board is “just shy of $500,000.”
Fish said the grant will allow the district to put in a new phone system that is fully integrated with the intercom system.
Once installed, “the new system will be fully functional across all our buildings,” he said.
“There will be greater ease of use with this system, as far as communication is concerned,” he continued, “but more importantly it will increase safety across campus if, heaven forbid, we ever do have an emergency and need to lock down.”
Fish said, “If a threat happens at the high school, someone in that building will be able to use the phone/intercom system to lock down the entire campus” including the career center, once it is completed.
Along with that, the district will be upgrading its video surveillance equipment, adding “a significant number of cameras, and replacing some that are outdated,” Fish said.
He went on to say, “This will allow all our cameras to work on the same platform, and [visual] will be accessed anywhere you are on campus.”
In addition, he said the system will allow the city and county law enforcement and also MSHP “real-time access to that camera system as well. They will be able to see where that threat is.”
Fish said the district will also be upgrading access control, adding video monitoring to doors where it is needed and updating key fobs to make sure only those who need access into the buildings have it.
New security doors will be installed at the elementary,
Several bids were presented for various components of the project. However, only one bid, submitted by Hi-Tech Communications, was all-inclusive. The board therefore approved awarding the contract to Hi-Tech.