PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – As part of a regular training drill, police from our area participated in a mock emergency drill for an active shooter inside a local school.

The group of officers, who make up the CharWest Council of Government, were dispatched throughout the hallways of South Fayette High School. There were several different scenarios they had to respond to, but all included an armed person inside the building.

The training is under the leadership of local officers in the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training group. During the sessions this morning, police were armed and shooting in the hallways, but not with real ammunition.

“We incorporate using simunition rounds, which are basically like paint rounds,” said ALERRT instructor John Leininger. “And again we just put the officers under stress, and dispatch, possibly involving an active shooter in the school district.”

Leininger is also with the South Fayette Township Police Department and said the training today is invaluable.

“This is nothing that any officer ever wants to respond to but we just try to prepare for what could happen,” Leininger said.

The training was scheduled months ago, and is not in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

However, KDKA was told the shooting of 26 people inside the school will most likely affect the future training of officers in our area.

“It’s necessary that we prepare because the bad guys are preparing too,” South Fayette Police Chief Louis Volle said.

Instructors said that training for active shooter scenarios is modified anytime there is a mass shooting or gun scare situation.

Chief Volle said how those situations are handled are evaluated, both the good and bad.

Training will reflect how officers can then better respond.

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