Miami-Dade schools police held "active shooter" drill ahead of new school year start
MIAMI - There was a heavy police presence on Monday at Miami Senior High School.
The sounds of sirens, the flashing lights, even the sound of gunfire. But this was just a drill. It's part of a coordinated effort to make sure all the officers and first responders involved are ready in the case of a critical emergency.
Student volunteers, dozens of officers from different departments, and paramedics went through an active shooter scenario.
A drill complete with the sound of loud gunfire, emergency vehicles, and the screams of students.
"We do that on purpose. We want to create a scenario as realistic as possible to put them in stressful situations, to see how they'll act and we'll be able to evaluate them," said Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Ivan Silvia.
"We work throughout the summer and throughout the year with different agencies so when we come to a scene, something like this, we all know what we've got to do," he added.
The officers have a three-part plan in an active shooter situation. The first step is to stop the killing. There is no time to wait. The officers are trained to go in and towards gunfire as soon as they hear it. The next step, stop the dying, treating the most critical patients first. The last step, getting everyone else out to safety.
After Parkland, people in South Florida know all too well how important it is to train for this.
"I jumped. I had tears in my eyes because I can only imagine the fear and the horror that those kids those teachers, those administrators, and those parents went through," said Mari Tere Rojas, the chair of the Miami-Dade School Board.
These law enforcement officers are ready and prepared for an emergency they hope never comes.
"The number one priority for our school board, our superintendent, our chief of police is to do everything in our power to try to prevent a situation like the one that occurred in Parkland," said Rojas.
Chief Silva says they hold three or four of these before classes start every year.
