NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper said his department is always trying to help mitigate the risk of mass shootings in the Salt City.
"I have two experts on my staff in active violence or school related shootings," Hooper said. "We reach out to the community and we literally do dozens of complete security plans, security inspections of various businesses, our school districts. Those two officers go out, sit down with staff, work on their emergency preparedness plan, check the safety of the building, talk about our law enforcement response, to make sure that the businesses and schools can be as safe as possible."
Hooper also said there is a full drill coming up later this summer.
"We do a full-scale active shooter exercise every summer," Hooper said. "It's a week long. It involves all emergency services, all law enforcement in the county, including state agencies, KHP and Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. They come out along with EMS and Fire. We usually do it in a school. We utilize a different school during the summer every year. It's a week long, all services work together. You'd be amazed how realistic we make it. We have smoke. We have noises. We try to simulate that stressful environment as much as possible. Every officer, every firefighter, every EMS personnel is put through those specific drills, to make sure that we're as prepared in case a worst scenario would occur in Hutchinson."
The school building that is used rotates, depending on what districts make available.
"We've done the high school, the middle schools, several of the grade schools," Hooper said. "We've even done in the Buhler school district, as well. It's not so much about the layout of the building. That presents some individual challenges, but the tactics that we utilize circumvent that and are able to be deployed in any particular layout."
There's no concern about jurisdictions when it comes to mass situations.
"If there's an active shooter, it's an all call," Hooper said. "Every law enforcement officer in the area is alerted and everybody goes. It's really not about jurisdictional boundaries. It's about who can get there first."
The goal, of course, is to find out about threats before they happen.