Executive Summary
- Marshall County law enforcement, EMS, and EMA are conducting joint active shooter response training.
- Drills are taking place at Cameron Elementary School to familiarize responders with the facility’s layout.
- The exercises focus on tactical movements, inter-agency communication, and operational efficiency.
- School Safety Coordinator Shey McGuire stressed the importance of multi-agency scenarios for maintaining calm during real emergencies.
Law enforcement agencies and emergency medical services in Marshall County, West Virginia, have launched a comprehensive series of active shooter response training sessions aimed at bolstering coordination and communication during potential school emergencies. The initiative brings together multiple departments to ensure a unified response strategy for the safety of students and staff.
The exercises, recently conducted at Cameron Elementary School, involve a collaborative effort between the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, local police departments, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and the Emergency Management Agency (EMA). Participating officers utilized the sessions to practice tactical movements through hallways, classrooms, and stairwells, treating the educational facility as a live operational environment to better understand its specific layout and entry points.
Shey McGuire, the coordinator of school safety for Marshall County, emphasized the strategic value of integrating various first responder units into these drills rather than conducting them in isolation. “Each school does their own trainings, but this one, we incorporated law enforcement and EMS so that as we practice more scenarios, we’re better able to maintain our calm and poise during a real event,” McGuire stated. “So that if something really did happen, we can respond better in a more efficient way and keep ourselves safe and our kids safe.”
Operational Readiness
These comprehensive drills highlight a shift toward proactive emergency preparedness in educational institutions, emphasizing the critical need for inter-agency interoperability. By familiarizing first responders with the specific physical architecture of school buildings—rather than relying on generic training grounds—authorities aim to reduce response times and eliminate logistical confusion during high-stress incidents. This strategy aligns with broader national safety protocols that prioritize seamless communication between law enforcement and medical teams to maximize survivability in crisis situations.
