PARKLAND, Fla. – On Feb. 14, 2023, it will be five years since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. On Friday, the MSD Safety Commission discussed a new training policy to put into place.
The model is a step-by-step guide for those responding to the scene of an active shooter at a school.
Some of the objectives include:
Requiring all sworn law enforcement members to attend active shooter response training at least annually.
In the event of an active school shooter, all officers, even if there is just one on the scene must engage and neutralize the shooter without delay.
Officers must wear appropriate body armor, but if they do not, the officer must still act and not delay any immediate response.
“In this day and age, it’s just not acceptable practices for any law enforcement agency not to be prepared and not to have the policy that drives their actions in training,” said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
The idea is that this would become the norm for all law enforcement agencies in the state of Florida.
The commission also recognized that the model could be modified over time as necessary.