BY BRANDY TEMPLETON
If the unthinkable happens in a local school, Iredell County Sheriff’s Office deputies will be ready to respond.
On Friday morning, about 45 ICSO deputies and command staff, along with 50 Iredell-Statesville Schools teachers and Shepherds Fire Rescue and Iredell County EMS personnel, took part in an active shooter simulation at Lake Norman High School.
With teachers acting as students, deputies were stationed at all entrances/exits.
Deputies and SERT team members then searched and cleared the entire school until the two suspects were taken into custody. Deputies then remained in place until they were sure the threat had ended.
ICSO Threat Assessment Investigators Shawn Rowe and Heather Little helped plan the training. They both regularly perform security assessments and help with I-SS lockdown procedures.
Little explained that during a real-life school shooter scenario all ICSO deputies would be utilized.
“We would have even more support than we do now, if necessary calling other agencies in also,” she said.
The ICSO can use drone surveillance to provide a clear picture of what’s going on inside a school, Maj. Joel Hepler shared.
“Our drone can fly inside and see areas before our deputies enter,” he said. “With all our surveillance, there’s no one getting out of here.”
Capt. Matt Burleyson was instrumental in directing the school resource officers during the simulation. The Sheriff’s Office regularly holds ongoing training for SROs, the COPS (Community Oriented Policing) team and patrol deputies, he said.
“We’ve also ran drills at Third Creek and West Iredell High School,” he said. “We chose Lake Norman this time because it’s our largest school. There’s over 2,000 students here.”
Coddle Creek Elementary teacher Laurie Kuerlemann, who got to be student for the day, said she thinks the drill is necessary.
“This is a good thing to have,” she said. “You just never know with the world today.”
Sheriff Darren Campbell agrees.
“We need to utilize all the opportunities for training we can,” he said. “It is really good training.”
Billie Berry, I-SS deputy superintendent, was pleased with how smoothly the training went. He appreciates the district’s partnership with the Sheriff’s Office.
“The response is good. It’s important that we do these,” he said. “While we hate that we have to do these things, we always want to do everything we can to keep our students safe.”
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