BPD trains for active shooters
The Burnet Police Department recently held an Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training to prepare for active shooter situations. Photo courtesy of BPD
The Burnet Police Department recently completed Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training to prepare officers for active shooter incidents. The training teaches officers how to neutralize a threat swiftly and effectively.
ALERRT, which took place on Aug.10-11 and Aug. 17-18, was hosted by BPD and included the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office, the Bertram Police Department, and non-commissioned officers and retirees.
In response to school shootings across the nation, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement made the training a requirement for all officers to undergo every two years.
This was not the first rapid response training that BPD officers have received.
“ALERRT has made training available to law enforcement for many years … and we recognized the need to be prepared to respond prior to the mandate,” Burnet Police Chief Brian Lee said. “Unfortunately, there have been several incidents of active shooters throughout our country.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 4, just a few weeks after the training, a 14-year-old student shot and killed four people and injured nine at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
The ALERRT sessions incorporate the use of simunitions, a type of non-lethal training ammunition that allows officers to engage in realistic, high-stress scenarios.
“Stress inoculation is one reason they are used,” he said. “These are high-stress situations, and anything we can do to train and understand what we may experience in real life prepares us for a better response.”
In addition, BPD has taken steps to train its own instructors, reducing the need for external resources. The department’s decision to develop instructors cuts the cost of training and makes it more readily available, Lee said.
“The training program is of the utmost importance to our agency and the community,” Lee said. “The readiness in the county is something we all take seriously and will continue to train at a level that will enable us to respond appropriately to any incident.”