The State of Ohio has announced that it is designing two portable “shoot houses” that will be available to school districts that authorize their employees to be armed on school grounds.
Law enforcement agencies utilize two methods of training working officers. They are Scenario Based Training (SBT) and Reality Based Training (RBT). SBT involves a choreographed and scripted incident and is used to measure the officer’s response to stimuli. RBT involves unscripted actions to measure the response of the officer.
The reality is that the more realistic the training, the more risk of injury to the participants. Las Vegas Metro Police ran an RBT involving officers in actual foot pursuits where the “suspect” would be tackled. The result was multiple injuries to participants ranging from dislocations to broken bones rendering the injured person to be off work for, in some cases, a considerable period of time.
Police recruits receive training in the police academy of much more than reaction to stimuli. They learn situational awareness, de-escalation, tactical approach and search skills that cannot be taught in a short exercise in s shoot house. Also, if educators wanted to learn these skills, they would have chosen law enforcement as their profession.
This is just another example of a “knee-jerk” reaction to the hue and cry from the public because of the frequency of these events and the obligation of the State to respond.
The fact is that the State has not taken any action to indemnify school employees from personal liability should a stray bullet strike an innocent third party. Police officers have qualified immunity from civil litigation.
Tactical entry is a skillset requiring continuous training and exposure. That is why most agencies have specialized units for this sole purpose. Cities like Los Angeles, Detroit, Kansas City, Columbus (OH) and Dallas have full-time Special Weapons and Tactics teams where they train in the downtime between call-ups.
The State needs to demonstrate that it is aware of an issue and is making attempts to address the concern but doing it in a manner which has little possibility of a positive outcome is simply a waste of money. School employees need to focus their attention of the educational, not the safety, needs of students. Political subdivisions need to utilize electronic options in conjunction with human resources to offer the most possibility of success.