Beaver County school officials and law enforcement gather for active shooter response training session
BEAVER, Pa. (KDKA) — Law enforcement, school officials and other first responders gathered Tuesday in Beaver County for an active shooter response training session.
It comes after more tragic details have been released on the Uvalde, Texas school shooting.
Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier said officials must take steps now to prevent and prepare for an active shooter situation.
During the eight-hour training session, panelists from multiple law enforcement agencies and schools leaders discussed what works, what doesn't, and how to improve training, drills and plans.
"Bringing all of us together to listen to one another, to hear other people's thoughts and to learn from one another is probably the most important thing that we can do right now to keep our children safe," said Jane Bovalino, superintendent of schools at Rochester Area School District.
Beaver County has 14 school districts broken into 50 different buildings. One big topic Tuesday was having school security at each building and having the option for schools to choose which works best.
There are three different types of security: resource officers, school police officers and school security officers.
"We want an SPO, school police officer. We've had an SRO in the past and we want the consistency of an SPO. And so, that's one of the big things that I've really been listening to," Bovalino said.
By having security at schools, some officers discussed the added benefits built into their daily duties, including becoming a classroom and community resource. A panelist said they also bridge the gap between law enforcement and youth, increase positive attitudes towards law enforcement and teach students how to reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of a crime.
During the training, other discussions included increasing active shooter training at schools, making sure schools and the police have a plan, and practicing it.
"We had both the state police here and the FBI to talk about how Parkland and Uvalde happened and the systemic failures and how we can prevent those failures by proper practices," Lozier said.
Authorities said training sessions and small steps will make a difference in an emergency.
"I don't know that there's another time that we've gotten together like this, where we have so many different establishments in one place, and I think that's really important that we take this time and we listen," Bovalino said.
Another training is scheduled at the Community College of Beaver County on July 26.
