Pensacola Police Department trains for active threat emergency

PENSACOLA, Fla. ( WKRG ) — Monday began the training for the Pensacola Police Department on eliminating an active threat.

Training will be held for several days near the Ronald McDonald House on Bayou Boulevard.

The training was formerly known as “active shooter training,” but police departments now prepare how to take down active threats to the public that may differ from gun violence.

Officers enter a building from which they hear gunshot simulations and have to move down the hallway to dismantle the threats. Mannequins, fog machines and live audios of screams are scattered throughout the hallway to emulate a real-life situation.

Pensacola Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Wood wants the simulation to be as realistic as possible for officers.

“All that is to get the officer stimulated, to get the adrenaline going, to get the heart rate up and for him or her to be able to concentrate on what they’re doing and to be able to eliminate that threat as fast as possible,” Wood said.

Incidents, such as the assassination attempt against former President Trump on Saturday night, around the globe contribute to an updated training schedule for the betterment of officers’ preparedness in dangerous situations.

“We learn off each and every incident throughout the nation and throughout the world,” Wood said. “Law enforcement studies all of them, and then we get trained and retrained.”

As part of the new training, officers will now immediately charge the threat when they can hear gunshots inside a building rather than checking all the rooms in the building first. When gunshots are no longer heard, officers will go back and clear each room in the building.

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