Last week, 20 law enforcement officers representing 12 jurisdictions convened at Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School in Idaho for a National School Shield Assessor Training Course. This was the first course offered in the area, and Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said that the training will benefit the whole county. “The officers that are trained here are going to be able to work together and do the same assessment for every school in the county,” Wheeler said.
The week-long program, founded and sponsored by NRA, teaches law enforcement how to conduct school security assessments. These assessments give local law enforcement the opportunity to observe the campus, learn what to do in the case of an active shooter or natural disaster, and address any blind spots in a school’s current security plan. The program is free to participants, and even offers a grant program that allows schools to apply for the funding needed to make necessary security improvements.
“This is the first time this training has been offered west of the Mississippi,” Wheeler said. “We are very fortunate to get this caliber of training in rural Idaho.”
