Ball State has never seen an active shooter on campus — ever.
That's according to police chief Gene Burton, who has worked for the University Police Department for 31 years and was glad for the opportunity to participate in an annual training session on Thursday.
"It's enjoyable because you get to run and sweat and do all those things that you like to do," he said. "You keep in mind that it's realistic training. What you're trying to do is hone skills that you hope you never have to use."
Booby traps, overturned chairs and the constant throb of fire alarms helped simulate an active shooter scenario at Schmidt/Wilson Hall during several sessions throughout the day. Training will continue on Friday. About 70 local law enforcement officers are expected to participate altogether.
"You train like you fight, and you fight like you train," Burton said.
The training included a classroom session and exercises in clearing and securing rooms. Officers learned how to cover for their partner or team members in groups of two, three and four.
Brent Brown, a tactics training officer and patrolman with Muncie Police Department, helped lead some of the training sessions.
He said the closest he's come to dealing with an active shooter was a false alarm last year when a lady called to report that her granddaughter was being held hostage by her boyfriend, and that a teacher had been shot at a rural Delaware County high school.
"The goal of this training is to have one common plan that's easy to integrate among the different police departments," Brown said. "It's like a cookie cutter program."
The massacre at Columbine High School in 1999 offered a turning point in how police officers approach an active shooter.
"Most law enforcement training is born out of tragedy," Brown said.
Twelve students and a teacher were killed in the massacre. At the time, the standard operating procedure was for first responders to barricade an area and wait for the SWAT team to arrive.
The new plan is for local law enforcement and first responders to send out a mass notification, lock down the area and send a public service announcement. Objectives: stop the shooter, rescue victims, provide medical assistance and preserve the crime scene.
The major issues officers deal with on campus, though, are burglary, theft and intoxicated subjects, Burton said.
There were 19 counts of burglary at Ball State in 2009, the most recent statistic, according to material from the Office of Student Rights and Community Standards. In the same year, 77 arrests were made for liquor law violations, and 18 arrests for drug law violations.
Burton said skills that are learned at active shooter training can be applied when dealing with the suspect of a burglary.
"You can't train for everything," he said. "You train for the most serious, and then teach your people how what you learn here can equate into other instances that you'll deal with."
For example, officers learned how to handcuff a person the day before active shooter training.
"You understand that you're training on one thing today, but you could use those same skill sets on something different tomorrow," Burton said.
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