Hoover, Ala., June 23, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the wake of continued incidents of school violence -- including a recent shooting in an Oregon high school -- several sessions at an upcoming national school policing conference will focus on dealing with active shooters. The National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) announced that it has finalized the agenda for its annual national conference, which will take place July 13-18 in La Quinta, Calif. (near Palm Springs).
Educational sessions devoted to school shooters include:
- Developing Reality-Based Training for Active Threat Response, in which participants will learn new ways to train officers for active assailant situations. The session will include a systematic progression of skill-building exercises and drills culminating in a reality-based training scenario with specially modified police weapons.
- ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate), in which officers will learn how to enhance school lockdown procedures. This session includes a simulation in which officers will see first-hand how difficult it is for a shooter to fire accurately when items are being thrown toward his face.
- Standardized School Emergency Management and School Active Assailant Response, which will include a presentation by the Special Enforcement Bureau (SWAT team) of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on how to survive the crucial three to nine minutes in a school while waiting for police response to a potentially violent incident.
- The Active Shooter Concern and the School Resource Officer, which will include lessons learned about a new "run, hide and fight" protocol and best practices gathered by the FBI from large and small departments affected by school shooting incidents.
Keynote speakers include:
- Kristina Anderson, who was a sophomore at Virginia Tech in 2007 and one of 24 people injured during the mass shootings on campus.
- Michele Gay, mother of Josephine Grace Gay, a 7-year-old girl who died in the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
- Richard Lavoie, an educator, motivational speaker, author and an acclaimed advocate for children with learning disabilities and special needs.
- Bernie James, a law professor at Pepperdine University and a contributing editor to the NASRO Journal of School Safety.
- Dr. Stephen R. Sroka, an internationally recognized speaker, trainer, author, teacher and educational consultant.
The complete, final conference agenda is available on the NASRO website: www.nasro.org/2014-conference-agenda/.
The conference offers attendees an opportunity to earn 30 hours of training; visit an exhibit hall with the latest in products, technology and innovations; complete NASRO training courses on site at no additional charge; and interact with SROs, school administrators, sheriffs and chiefs of police from throughout the country and world. In addition to sessions mentioned above, available training includes NASRO's Basic SRO Course, which is ideal for law enforcement officers who are newly assigned to work in schools.
Last year, 800 people attended the annual NASRO conference, including school resource officers and other law enforcement officers, as well as school security and safety officials, board members, administrators and others interested in school safety. The association said it expects as many as 1,000 to attend this year.
About NASRO
NASRO is a nonprofit organization for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security/safety professionals working as partners to protect students, school faculty and staff, and the schools they attend. NASRO is located in Hoover, Ala., and was established in 1991.
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