MITCHELL, SD – Representatives of 21 public safety agencies from South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska spent the last three days in Mitchell for Active Shooter Incident Management Training
Bill Godfrey of C-3 Pathways led the program that uses a computerized simulation system. C-3 Pathways is an emergency preparedness organization, with emergency response consulting, training and major incident exercise programs
Godfrey says involves everyone from those taking the calls to those holding the news conferences.
“Most people when they talk about active shooter events, certainly with responders, they think about the importance of getting the suspect quickly, of getting the bad guy quickly. And that obviously is a very important part of what we need to do in these horrible events. But that’s not the only thing, and that’s where a lot of training falls short,” Godfrey said.
He added, “We’ve got 50 people here working together. Able to recreate all of the jobs that need to be done. And those jobs have to be done at the same time.”
He says interagency cooperation is vital.
“Everyone has to know what the plan is and how it is to be executed. Things will always get done. The question is will they get done quickly. If they don’t, we lose the opportunity to potentially save lives that might have been savable.
Federal Homeland Security and FEMA money covered the training costs.
