SOURCE: SIGHTINGS http://www.sightings.com

US Police Train For School Shootings By Vanessa Medley http://www.schoolsnet.com/cgi-bin/inetcgi/schoolsnet/scripts/article.jsp?OID=371541 4-1-00

Police officers in the United States are training for the country's next school attack by taking part in elaborate simulations at a special centre.

More than 1,000 police and soldiers have already been trained at RU Ready High, a mock school in Moyock, North Carolina, where they learn how to respond to gun attacks against teachers and pupils.

At the school, loudspeakers blare the sounds of automatic gunfire, explosions and fire alarms, as actors playing children scream.

During the training, a mock gunman takes control of the school. The officers try to get inside fast, lead frightened pupils to safety and open a safe path for medical services before going after the gunman.

The officers train with their own weapons to make the experience as real as possible, but they fire simunition - a type of paint-ball ammunition. Security cameras record their actions for review later.

Participants also review previous school shootings and hundreds of scenarios.

"If you don't train for this, you will have chaos on the day it happens," said Gary Jackson, director of operations for the Blackwater Training Centre.

Last year in the United States, 24 pupils died as a result of school violence, according to Pam Riley, executive director at the Centre for the Prfevention of School Violence based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In the most notorious incident, two teenagers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killed 12 fellow pupils and a teacher last April before committing suicide.

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