Shelter Island School hosts active shooter training

A sea of blue uniformed police jammed the halls of Shelter Island School on Saturday, Sept. 21.

An emergency at the site? No. It was an annual training session for police to learn about their expected roles in a crisis in which an active shooter might be in the school building, and to understand the efforts of the Suffolk County Police Homeland Security Section officers who would be called to the scene.

Police departments throughout the East End participated in the drill at the school.

Emergency Medical Technicians, who would become a vital part of the effort once a safe space for treatment of patients could be secured, were invited to observe the police training to understand the procedures that would come into play during a real active shooter occurrence.

Realistically, it would be local police who would be first on the scene. Shelter Island Police Chief Jim Read said word would immediately go out to the Suffolk County Police Homeland Security Section that aid was needed as rapidly as possible.

School officials had been trained in advance to follow proper procedures: getting any students outside the building secured; locking down the building to ensure no one is able to enter; and getting staff and students to areas affording a level of safety.

The first and vital necessity for officers on the scene is to secure the building and search for the assailant.

A DUTY TO BE PREPARED

There are few people who would question the necessity of active shooter drills. In America so far this year, as of this past weekend, there have been 440 mass shootings, Chief Read said. A mass shooting is defined as any incident where four or more people are killed or wounded.

Included in that astonishing number of horrors recorded in 2024, have been 13 shootings on college campuses and 37 at K-12 schools, with 24 Americans murdered and 66 injured, according to figures revealed by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.

There are 20 million weapons of war in private hands in the U.S., according to several accounts. In a Reporter article two years ago, we found that there were 11 assault weapons registered on Shelter Island with the New York State Police Department, seven in the 11964 ZIP code and four in the 11965 ZIP Code.

Sales of these weapons were banned in New York State since the passage of legislation in January 2013, spurred by the murders of 26 people, including 20 school children in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012.

All weapons in that category purchased before the passage of the law have to be registered with the New York State Police Department, and 44,160 assault weapons have been registered in the State, including the 11 on the Island since the law took effect.

TAKING CHARGE

The first responsibility  is to stop the killing, said Officer Andrew Fiorillo Saturday. He is a member of the Suffolk County Police Homeland Security Section.

As often happens, the shooter’s whereabouts in the building is not readily known, requiring police to locate and stop him. While some first aid may be rendered in the sheltering areas, an effort is made to identify a secure area where anyone shot could be treated by EMTs.

The EMTs were invited to observe the training to understand police actions and what their role would become in treating patients.

Officer Fiorillo and his colleague, Officer Elisa McVeigh, told trainees the information they were to receive, through discussions and exercises, are critical. “Follow instructions because we know what works,” Officer Fiorillo said.

During Saturday’s drill, officers  in uniforms covering bullet-proof vests, were taught how to search a school room-to-room until the shooter is found, and how to secure rooms searched while other rooms are being investigated. They generally work in teams of two to four officers, but on occasion, an officer might have to work alone until help arrives.

When a room is secured and no assailant is found, ideally an officer is posted to ensure that room remains safe.

Police are trained to “risk a lot to save a lot,” Chief Read said. They risk their own lives to save many lives, he said.

Officer McVeigh spoke of a situation in which more than 30 officers would a school, calling it “a blue tsunami,” and spoke of other necessary responsibilities those officers could perform.

Officer Michael Viruet showed films of police searching a school and, following the explanatory session in the school Board Room, the group moved to a corridor of classrooms used by elementary level students. Officers were carrying pistols; a few had high-powered assault weapons.

The officers joined the EMTs and invited guests who could witness the procedures, including Town Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams, School Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D., School Personnel Director Todd Gulluscio, Board of Education President Kathleen Lynch, Board members Margaret Colligan and Anthony Rando, and Building and Grounds Director Mike Dunning. Board member Rando also serves as a sergeant in the Town Police Department.

It is essential to distinguish between a “lock out” and a “lock down,” Officer Viruet said. A lock out is declared by school officials, not the police, and involves situations where there is some type of concern outside the building. The school building will be locked so no one can enter the building.

Chief Read explained it could be something like a bank robbery but, clearly, the school needs to be locked to protect it from being entered by someone trying to escape police.

A lock down — something staff and students practice several times during a school year —  means a threat exists within the building. In practice sessions, staff and students are instructed to shelter in their classrooms or, in a few cases, pre-assigned specific areas in the school. They are told to be silent and to silence their cellphones.

“No active shooter has ever breached a locked door,” Chief Read said.

SECURING INSIDE AND OUT

An incident at a school is very different than what’s needed at a business that’s subject to an active shooter event, Officer McVeigh said. In the age of ubiquitous cellphones, students would be calling parents to report what’s happening within the building and parents would be rushing to the school, praying they would find their children had been evacuated and were safe in another venue.

But that’s unlikely, so for all the efforts to deal with what’s going on in the school, there’s a need to keep those anxious parents out of the building and to control traffic from entering the area.

Initially, as said, it would generally be local police who are the first on the scene. They need to know how to handle those initial minutes, protecting themselves, covering one another, and securing the area around a school.

What people would witness was made even more dramatic by the sight of art work posted to corridor walls by the young students. The officers followed instructions on entering classrooms with guns drawn, and learned how to secure the rooms with as little danger as possible to themselves, children and teachers who might be in that room.

They were told why it is vital to listen to one person responsible for coordinating the search, and other methods of protecting themselves in the process of protecting the occupants of the school.

Shelter Island School administrators, with strong support from the Board of Education, have spent money and energy improving school security. Plans call for further discussions regarding steps that can be improved, based on input from local police and the observations of school officials present for the training session.