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Officers Train For Possible School Shootings

Last updated on Thursday, March 15, 2007

(UNDATED) - Police officers from seven departments are wrapping up two days of training in how to handle a Columbine-style shooting.

Police call a case like the Columbine High School killings an "active shooter" incident, where a gunman is already up and firing, and victims are in immediate danger.

Indiana Conservation Officer Max Winchell says officers from different departments may be among the first responders, and need to practice forming up immediately as a team.

Winchell says police learned from Columbine that they need to reach the gunman as quickly as possible. Colorado authorities have been criticized for hesitating to enter the school while there was still a danger of gunfire.

Conservation and excise officers conducted the training, borrowing Sullivan High School after hours to test the techniques learned in two days of classroom lessons.

30 officers took part from those two departments, the Sullivan police department, and sheriff's departments in Sullivan, Clay, Parke and Vermilllion counties.

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