Snake River School District holds active shooter training

BLACKFOOT, Idaho (KIFI) - On Friday, the Bingham County Sheriff's Office and Emergency Management team held an active shooter simulation at Snake River High School. With active shooter events on the rise, emergency management, and law enforcement officials, are finding new ways to effectively and safely train teachers on how to respond.

"Active shooters can happen at any time, any place. They're becoming more commonplace," Principal and District Safety Coordinator Ray Carter said. "We need to train our teachers. We also need to train our community on different ways to react."

Teachers, some of who had never heard a gunshot in real life, reacted to a fake intruder entering the school. Everything was scripted, and every gunshot was a blank. Even the "injured students" were actors from the school's theatre department.

But Bingham County Emergency Management Director Scott Reese says just hearing the simulation will help them recognize and react to real danger when it happens.

"As a young kid, I would ask my grandfather, what's a rattlesnake sound like? And he'd say, I can't explain it. But when you hear your first one, you'll know exactly what it is..." Reese said. "...This training we're doing today exposes teachers to real gunshot sounds with the shotgun and pistols in their holes in their classrooms. When they hear that, they know it's not a firecracker. It's not somebody slamming a locker. It's an actual gun being fired."

The Bingham County Sheriff's Office will be holding a Parent Safety Meeting for the school district, where concerned parents can learn about safety in active shooter scenarios. That meeting will take place Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Snake River High School.