Active shooter training for school resource officers: HCSO enhances student safety during summer break

TAMPA, Fla. - While students are on summer vacation, those who protect them in school are preparing for the worst-case scenario.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office recently conducted a four-day active shooter training. Sheriff Chad Chronister will share details from that training at 8 a.m. Friday at Newsom High School in Lithia.

School resource deputies, HCSO says, are the first line of defense against an active threat at schools. This type of training allows them to practice skills like efficiently clearing a room, effectively communicating using their radios, working to limit casualties, and neutralizing an active threat, according to the agency. 

School Resource Officer active shooter training courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. 

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office also recently started the School Threat Assessment and Response Squad, called STAR.

Hillsborough County Schools Police Chief John Newman said the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Commission, created after the Parkland mass shooting, found threat assessment processes at districts needed to be updated, prompting the creation of STAR.

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STAR includes four deputies who focus on investigating threats to schools, students, or self-harm at public, private and charter schools. The deputies also monitor students who make threats.

"The new tools available to our school resource deputies will ensure they respond and neutralize the threat safely while protecting our precious children," Sheriff Chronister said speaking about STAR at the end of last year.

School Resource Officer active shooter training courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. 

"This is the forecasting that we can do," Newman said. "This is the predictor, and law enforcement is a big part of that," Newman said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s active shooter training comes as the trial for former Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School school resource officer, Scot Peterson, is taking place in South Florida.

He’s accused of staying outside while the shooter roamed the halls of the high school and killed students and staff members.