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RAYNE - On Thursday, July 12, the Rayne Police Department conducted an active shooter training at Rayne High School.
Rayne Police Chief Carroll Stelly stated, “I hope we never have to deploy officers to an active shooter incident, but our department will continue to train yearly to be ready for such a tragic event. Whether it is a school, place of business or any residence in Rayne, the Rayne Police department will be ready to respond at a moments notice and eliminate the threat.”
After many school shootings have affected the nation, law enforcement has stepped up to provide active shooter trainings. At Rayne High School, this training was designed to be as realistic as possible in the hopes of saving lives.
Captain Tony Olinger with the Rayne Police Department informed the public of the department’s training every two years for such a situation.
Olinger stated, “We look at the data collected from different shootings throughout the country. We change our protocol to match and make sure our officers are the best trained to serve our community.”
“We just try to make sure Rayne is a safe place for the students, for the business people, and the citizens of Rayne,” Olinger says.
According to Instructor John Miller, “In years past, active shooters would often take their own lives instead of interacting with law enforcement, but that has since changed.”
Lieutenant John Miller with the Lafayette Police Department says, “Current trends are showing that the bad guys are now wanting to have more recognition for what they’re doing so I’m having to teach my students to be able to read the situation and understand the suspect may either decide to eliminate their own life, they may give up, or they may want to exchange gun fire and try to go down in a big battle.
“It’s important to teach officers the most updated techniques and methods when it comes to the possibility of an active shooter.
“We’re trying to reach out there and give them all that good information to try to save lives as much as possible. That’s our ultimate goal.. is to try to save as many lives as possible,” explains Miller.
Acadia Parish Superintendent Scott Richard says this training was for law enforcement practice. School officials and students were not involved.
An “active shooter” is a person(s) actively engaged in trying to kill people in a populated area. The training was scenario-based and designed to be as realistic as possible for the training.
During the scenarios, officers would respond to the school and using Simunition, a non-lethal training ammunition that shoots a wax-like projectile and makes a concussion noise.