Police, fire, and dispatch train for active shooter incident in Clayton School District

CLAYTON, Mo. — An active shooter incident not only requires quick thinking and response, it also involves a variety of players – which can complicate matters, but also ensure safety and security if handled properly.

That was demonstrated at a recent active shooter training exercise in the Clayton School District.

Clayton Police Chief Mark Smith said his department is trained to respond to a scene immediately and eliminate a threat.

But there is much more to those types of incidents, he added.

“You have to extract the injured. You have to secure the scene for the investigation. You have so many resources coming to the scene,” Smith said.” And so when you bring all these people together – police, fire, dispatch and the school district, we can discuss how we manage these resources when an actual event occurs.”

The conversation comes as classes resume this month. Fox 2’s Jasmine Huda spoke with Chief Smith and Luke Heitert, the Clayton School District Chief Communications Officer and Safety and Security Coordinator about the training, and measures taken to keep students and staff safe.

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