by Aundrea Cline-Thomas
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – More than 50 officers and deputies in Williamson County practiced how to take down an active shooter on a college campus at a simulated exersize.
For the first time, deputies from the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, and officers from the Brentwood and Franklin Police Department came together Thursday to respond to a very real scenario.
The scenario started with a call that came over their radios, "Shooting in progress 104 Claude Yates Drive," dispatch said. "104 Claude Yates Drive, Columbia State."
Officers from each agency arrived at Columbia State Community College in Franklin for the practice drill.
"Time means lives when you've got an active shooter situation," Brentwood Police Chief Jeff Hughes said.
"In a real situation we wouldn't know until we got in, so (officers) won't know what they have," Williamson County Chief Deputy Dusty Rhoades said about the simulation.
In this scenario, air soft guns replaced real ones. Volunteers came out to play the injured and shooter. The idea behind the exercise was very real, especially just months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
"We're often times here in court in Franklin," Chief Hughes said. "We very likely could have to respond as a multi-agency to a situation similar to this."
It is not often that the officers would respond to the same incident. This drill was meant to test how they work together in a high pressure situation.
"I think communication is one of the things we're certainly interested in how that plays out and what areas we can look at to improve on," Chief Hughes said.
Law enforcement practiced this scenarios, so they are ready if an emergency situation arises.
"While we never want to be faced with a situation like this in our community, should we be, we want to be prepared for it," Franklin Police Chief David Rahinsky said.
More than 50 officers participated in this simulation.
Columbia State Community College allowed officers to use the campus while students were on Spring Break.
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