Law enforcement academy to present special program
Following the deadly school shooting in Florida, many parents are concerned.
A session at the Columbia Law Enforcement Training Academy next week is designed to help parents discuss such situations with their children.
“It’s the brainchild of Deputy Director Michael Kelly,” Director Clint McMurry said. “He approached me about it shortly after the school shooting in Florida and said we needed to do something to help these families and kids. He said that it might save a life.”
So the idea for next Thursday’s seminar was formed, according to McMurry.
“We put together a program,” he said. “It looks like it will be a big success. We’re not charging anything for it – if we can save a life, that’s good. We think it is needed. A lot of parents don’t know how or what to tell their children to look for or avoid. Back in the 60s or 70s there were programs telling children don’t talk to strangers and things like that. Well, times have changed and it’s a lot different danger than it used to be.”
The idea, according to McMurry, is to teach parents to teach their children.
“It’s called ‘Raising Safe Kids,’” McMurry said. “What we do is we do an overview of the active shooter incidents and major crime incidents across the United States; a quick overview on who it is that has done the shooting, why they’ve done it and what kind of problems they’ve had. We will show them what signs to look for in an individual. Not profiling a person by any means, but some warning signs. With many of these individuals, there were warnings but no one knew what to look for. With the shooter in Florida, someone actually recognized the warning signs and it was reported to the FBI and to law enforcement, but it was missed.”
McMurry said what you don’t hear about is the successful interventions.
“I think it was in California where police actually thwarted an active shooter in a school because somebody recognized the signs and reported it,” he said. “They stopped it before it happened. That’s what we’re trying to do is educate the public.”
The session is set for 6 p.m. March 1, at the Law Enforcement Training Academy, located at the Marion County BusinessPlex (former Columbia Training School).
“It’s open to anybody, school administrators, teachers, parents – anybody that would have an interest in knowing these things,” he said. “We kind of want an idea of who is coming, so they can register online. We have a free registration that takes about 15 seconds to do. It’s not on our regular website. We just want an approximate number as to how many are coming.”
