Active shooter training for Dodge County

(ABC 6 News) – Law enforcement and emergency crews around Dodge County gathered at Triton High School in Dodge Center Saturday for active shooter training. With school shootings on the rise in the United States, prevention and training are more important than ever.

In 2022 alone there have been 27 school shootings. That’s just 7 shootings away from last years total of 34. With a new school year starting in just a few weeks, law enforcement and emergency crews are preparing for active shooter situations.

"This training is extremely important. In light of recent school shootings, I’m this is, it’s obviously on the forefront of all of our minds, right? We want to make sure our families, are students are safe going to school," said Dodge County PSAP Matthew Maas. He was the instructor leading the training. Putting crews through various types of instruction and scenarios. Maas said today they did, "three to three and half hours of classroom training and then a quick break for lunch right now and then this afternoon we are going to be running full functional exercises."

Though emergency crews try to respond to calls as fast as they can. Sometimes it’s not fast enough. That’s why the first line of defense in keeping students and faculty safe is the school resource officer. Dodge County deputy sheriff David Skadeson serves in that role at Triton High School. He tries to be an active member within the school to prevent a scenario like the ones displayed in the training from happening. Skadeson said what is important is, "talking with all the kids in the school. Getting to know them as much as you can. There’s a lot of kids that I do get to know and do feel comfortable coming and talking to me if they see something, if they hear something,"

Maas couldn’t agree more. "Talk with that school resource officer and share with them your concerns be aware of those things and don’t be afraid to communicate that because preventing something this is obviously the best way we can respond to something," he said.

With more students and SRO’s working together and having well trained emergency crews, schools around the country will become a safer place to learn.