'Active threat' drill scheduled

Jay County High School, Jay County law enforcement and other agencies will conduct an active threat drill at the high school Tuesday.
The agencies will act as if there is an active threat at the high school between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Chad Dodd, Jay County High School assistant principal, said the high school is required to do two lockdown drills each year.
“Those are typically pretty generic,” he said. “What we have found in other crises across the United States is there are a lot of agencies involved.
“For us, I want to see how our plans mesh together.”
Dodd said student safety is the biggest priority for the drill.
“We want the community to know we have a plan, and we want the students to know the plan,” he said.
Jay County Sheriff’s Department is working with other law enforcement and emergency agencies to keep the training as realistic as possible.
A call will be made to 911 from the high school, and Jay County dispatch will notify the appropriate agencies of the emergency situation.  Though officers know a drill will be happening, they’re arrival to the scene will be scattered and based on the amount of time it would actually take them to get to the high school.
There will be no live ammunition involved in the drill, and Indiana State Police will check each gun before it enters the high school.
A police perimeter will be established around the high school to ensure safety.
Sheriff Ray Newton said the drill will be helpful for all agencies involved.
“It’s going to benefit everyone,” he said. “A lot of these departments are going to be involved if this ever happened.”
Along with the high school and local law enforcement, Jay County High School, Indiana State Police, Emergency Management Agency, Emergency Medical Services and Portland Fire Department will each have a role in drill on Tuesday.
Dodd said people will not be able to enter and leave the school grounds freely during the drill.
If students have an appointment scheduled during the two-hour time frame, he asks for parents to keep them home Tuesday morning so there is no unnecessary interference.
Chief Deputy Rob Bicknell said the department and high school are not releasing all information regarding the drill in order for it to be as realistic as possible.
“We’re not putting on a play,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to know where it’s going to be and when it’s going to be.”
Dodd, Newton and Bicknell all agreed the drill’s intention is not for everything to run perfectly because the high school has never done a drill to this extent.
“We don’t expect things to go perfect because we’re going to learn from the things that don’t go perfect,” Bicknell said.
Observers will watch the entire drill, which will be followed by a debriefing.
Newton said the drill is not meant to scare people, but school shootings and other emergencies are occurring too often to not be prepared.
“People used to say that could never happen here,” he said. “It could happen here.
“We don’t want to scare anyone. We want to wake people up.”[[In-content Ad]]