BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

EDWARDS — Two officers armed with training weapons and wearing body armor worked their way through the halls of Edwards-Knox school, calling out open and closed doorways, hides and cleared rooms.

“Open door, right. Closed door, right, open door, left,” the county sheriff’s deputy leading announced to his partner. The pair were doing a course run through at the school Wednesday, June 29 as part of a four-day active shooter training event hosted and organized by the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department. Soon they encountered a wounded sheriff’s deputy in the hall and a little later gunfire on the second level of the school before they engaged and subdued a “shooter.”

About 100 local law enforcement officers participated in the training from 10 local departments during the four-day event, said Undersheriff Sean O’Brien who was coordinating scenarios at the school.

The county 911 dispatch van was onsite running communications and teachers, school personnel, local fire department members and EMS personnel did walk throughs with the officers while they trained. Those participating attended a question and answer session after the course was run.

“This is a priority for training,” Sheriff Brooks Bigwarfe told North Country This Week, adding that the department is funding the training out of its regular budget. The skills and education officers receive is enhanced by the walk through mock drills and will save lives, the sheriff said.

“Teachers, and school staff too. They need to know what this is like. They’re seeing what law enforcement does in these situations,” Bigwarfe said.

O’Brien said the sheriff’s department would like to conduct several more of the trainings. “We plan to do it every year at different schools,” O’Brien said.

During the question and answer session with school staff and local fire and EMS personnel, sheriff’s department members and other law enforcement instructors discussed strategies that would be used, including how they would set up hot zones, warm zones and cold zones in areas of the school. They covered how they would handle triage if students or staff were wounded in a hypothetical scenario, and discussed how lockdowns, often lasting as long as 8 hours, would be handled during situations like the that depicted during the training. The officers and emergency services staff also covered how students and staff would be evacuated once the building was secure.

“It’s not going to be easy, it’s a traumatic event,” O’Brien said of a potential active shooter scenario.

Other topics discussed included run-hide-fight training for teachers, response times and policies, school resource officers, and how deputies and local law enforcement officers are expected to regularly tour local schools to get to know the layout to better respond to emergencies there.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for school districts to have law enforcement agencies learning the footprint of our building,” said Edward’s Knox superintendent Erin Woods at the training. “And its a good staff opportunity to understand the importance of active shooter drills and revise and improve our existing safety plans.”

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Deputy Zachary Montroy answers questions from Edwards-Knox school staff regarding active shooter scenarios.

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St. Lawrence County Sheriff Brooks Bigwarfe discusses active shooter training at Edwards-Knox school.

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At right, officers run through an active shooter training scenario, trailed by instructors and local emergency services personnel who are observing. At left, Edward’s Knox superintendent Erin Woods stands by to observe the scenario.