JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The heavy law enforcement and first responder presence that was in front of Stanton College Prep School on Thursday morning was just a drill.
It mimicked, however, the very real-life situations that play out all across this country: school shooters and active threats.
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Accordingly, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and partner agencies, including the FBI, want to be prepared in case those kinds of tragedies touch us here in Northeast Florida.
Police car sirens blaring, one by one, guns loaded and ready, police officers ran into the entrance of Stanton College Preparatory School on Thursday — preparing for what they would do in an actual emergency.
“It’s important that we test our tactical and technological readiness. Should such a tragedy occur. Nothing is more precious than our children,” JSO Director Mark Romano said.
This drill featuring a massive law-enforcement presence was a cooperative effort among JSO, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, as well as Duval County Public Schools police.
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Even the EMS workers prepped with bullet proof vests. Resources were airborne also — a helicopter flew above the drill. All the simulated stops were pulled out for student safety.
“Our school board always says student achievement, and school safety are one in the same,” Dr. Christopher Bernier, DCPS Superintendent, said.
Statista, a website that tracks data on different subjects, reports that there have been 159 school shootings at the kindergarten through 12th grade level in Florida over the last 60 years. Georgia has seen 112.
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In a not real but all too real scene, a first responder geared up in a bulletproof vest and protective helmet and tends to a simulated shooting victim, bloodied and planked out on the cold concrete in front of the school entrance.
Moments later, the would-be victims were carted off into a JFRD ambulance.
The Rockefeller Institute of Government says since 1966, 1,733 people have been killed and 2,716 injured in mass public shootings.
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