Wakefield Chief Says Tactics Have Changed Since 2000 Workplace Shooting
BOSTON (CBS) – The images out of San Bernardino took retired Wakefield Police Chief Stephen Doherty back 15 years, to the day he responded to a mass shooting at Wakefield company Edgewater Technology.
"It's a mental connection of going back to that scene, what did I do right and wrong," Doherty tells WBZ-TV.
He says many questions would be asked today.
"What's the size of the law enforcement response, what equipment do you bring into the game. You don't have time to get anything, you go with what you've got," said Doherty.
On December 26, 2000, it was Doherty and three other officers who entered and found the gunman, Michael McDermott, seated in the lobby.
He had shot and killed seven co-workers in a matter of minutes.
A regional tactical team would be needed to search the rest of the building for any more potential shooters and victims.
"Back then the philosophy was hold the fort and wait for the tactical unit to come. That has changed," said current Wakefield Police Chief Rick Smith.
He says active shooter training is now done for all officers, making the response to shots fired faster and the police better equipped to handle it.
"We're going in. We'll call for the tactical team, but if someone is in there our mission is to save lives," said Smith.
Only Columbine the year before had begun to raise awareness of mass shootings. Now Chiefs Doherty and Smith both provide training for law enforcement and businesses, knowing the tragic fact that it can happen anywhere.
"Things like that, meaning mass spree killings, happen in big cities, happen in urban environments. They don't happen here. I was wrong," said Doherty.