Lincoln Southeast High School hosts Active Shooter Training

Over the next few days, local First Responders will be at Lincoln Southeast High School, where they will be undergoing Active Shooter Training.

"We get our officers better trained, better prepared in case an unfortunate incident like this would take place," said LPD Captain Mike Woolman.

The national rise in school shootings has led to extra training for first responders.

Here in Lincoln, the fire department, sheriff’s office, state patrol, fugitive task force and numerous members of LPD are simulating an active shooter situation at southeast high school.

"Everybody needs to be prepared and know how we are going to handle the situation. We do this training once a year and we would like to do it more often," said Woolman.

Officials say the national standards are changing on a yearly basis, and now, everyone needs to be trained on what to do and what to expect if they are ever needed to respond to an active shooter call.

National response protocol now requires medical personnel to wear ballistic vests when responding to an active shooter situation.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue is still looking into getting the funding needed to purchase them.

"The unfortunate reality with these types of situations is people are going to be injured and unfortunately killed so our job is to try to save as many lives as possible," said Battalion Chief Tim Linke.

Recently, Lincoln public schools has partnered with police to add six new school resource officers to 12 area middle schools. Each officer will cover two schools each.

Public school officials are trying to be mindful of their students while implementing these extra precautions.

"We’re trying to make sure that we are sensitive to the kids so we are not traumatizing them as we are going through the response protocol but we want to make sure that it’s effective, that they really understand what it is that they need to do," said LPS Official Jon Sundermeier.

A number of teachers and administrators volunteered their time today as well.

A new aspect of the training is figuring out how to safely evacuate the building after the situation is under control.

"We want officers to see how they respond. We know that everything is not going to be perfect today and that’s why we train. And then we can learn from our mistakes so if we do have a real life situation we can respond appropriately," said Woolman.

Officials with Lincoln police say the entire department will train here over the next few days. They want everyone trained and prepared just in case.