Kimberly Rentner lies on the floor of a hallway near the principal’s office at West Leyden. Four police officers in bulletproof vests cautiously walk up, guns drawn and looking around each corner.
“Please, take me with you, I’m injured,” Rentner says, grabbing the ankle of one the passing officers. The officer gently detaches her hand and keeps walking.
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A moment later, the sound of a shot is heard.
“Shots reported on second floor of West Leyden,” comes a dispatcher’s voice over police walkie-talkies.
More groups of four police officers follow, with three officers facing forward and one backward. Some carry rifles.
As one officer enters a classroom by himself, a man in a red vest interrupts the tense drill.
“No solo man entry,” he says to the officer.
On April 1, police officers from 10 suburbs and Triton College took part in an “active shooter” training at West Leyden High School. Police practiced how to respond to reports of someone getting into the school with a gun.
“Columbine was our initial incentive for active shooter trainings,” said Officer Greg Hauptman of Harwood Heights, one of the organizers. Hauptman explained that before the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, police would respond to a report of a person with a gun by sealing off the building and waiting for a SWAT team. Prior to Columbine, officers didn’t expect a person to go in and start shooting, Hauptman said.
That changed with Columbine and was emphasized by the killing of 68 young people in a camp in Norway in July 2011 and the killing of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in December 2012.
“It’s not a SWAT operation,” Hauptmann said, adding that it can take SWAT a while to get to the scene. “It is a patrolman’s job.”
Around 75 officers took part in the training on April 1. Although officers from different suburbs have done similar trainings at both Ridgewood and Elmwood Park high schools, this training was larger.
“We’ve never had so many police officers,” said Northlake Deputy Chief Jay Militello. “Usually it’s around 30.”
The officers came from Northlake, Franklin Park, River Forest, Elmwood Park, River Grove, Harwood Heights, Norridge, Forest Park, Melrose Park, Schiller Park, and Triton College. Firefighter paramedics from Leyden Township and Northlake also took part.
After a morning spent on how to inspect and secure rooms, officers took part in two scenarios. Nine volunteers pretended to be shooters, victims or random people. A dozen or so training officers from different police departments wore red vests and followed the police officers around.
“If you see someone making a mistake, correct it,” said Hauptman to training officers before the first scenario.
There were mistakes, or at least situations that could be improved, during the first scenario. A lack of communication on walkie-talkies led to some classrooms being searched more than once. Spare officers weren’t used to secure a hallway that had been cleared.
“Any units that can advise if we have any other shootings?” said a dispatcher over the police radios.
Officer performance improved during the second scenario, in which there were two active shooters. Police kept dispatchers — located on the stage of the school auditorium — informed, cleared hallways were guarded and officers called out “friendly” when they came upon other groups of officers.
“We’re trying to work out these problems,” Hauptman said when was the training was over. “We want to update plans and share them with other departments.”