Law Enforcement Conduct Active Shooter Training at Whiteville Elementary School {video}
Members of the Whiteville Police Department (WPD), Bolivar Police Department, and Hardeman County Sheriff’s Department participated in Active Shooter Training, which was held at Whiteville Elementary School on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Hardeman County Schools are on spring break this week, which gave the participants full access to the school to conduct the training.
The Active Shooter training was coordinated by Sergeant Courtney Howell of the WPD. Sergeant Howell has been the School Resource Officer (SRO) at WES for six years.
“The training is a necessity for SROs to know, so we can keep our students and staff safe. That is our primary purpose,” said Sergeant Howell.
This is the second time the WPD has hosted active shooter training and the first time a department in the county has used blank rounds in that training. In most instances, training of this kind has officers using unloaded weapons or rubber guns. Sergeant Howell wanted those attending to have an experience as close to a live event, which even included them being familiar with the smell of gun smoke after a shot has been fired. The gun used for the training was an AR-15.
“I love doing the training with blank rounds for the simple fact that you can hear the actual gun fire, you go towards the gunfire, and you can smell the gun smoke. It [blank rounds] sound pretty much the same as a straight round,” said Sergeant Howell. “So, if an active shooter situation happens, it doesn’t throw them off.”
SRO Officer Jenny Duke works at Grand Junction Elementary School and has done active shooter training in the past. She agreed using blank rounds makes a difference for better training.
“It is a lot different because it seems more real when you have a real gun in your hand and there is ‘real’ ammunition in it. Although I know they’re blanks, I am still more aware of the weapon and its capabilities, because that is what I am holding,” said Officer Duke.
Officer Jonathan Lutrell and Officer Kai, his K-9 partner, participated in the training. During an active shooter situation, all officers must be prepared to respond accordingly once they arrive on the scene.
“We wanted to see not only as a handler but as a department how canine Kai would react to the gunfire constantly going off and still make sure he could follow his commands during the stressful situation,” said eight-year veteran Officer Jonathan Luttrell, who ran one scenario by himself and another one with Officer Kai. “Officer Kai passed with flying colors.”
The group practiced several scenarios, which they could possibly encounter in an active shooter situation. Gun handling is not the only skill an officer needs. Being able to perform their job with their weapon in hand and process information with alarms going off, yelling, gun shots, etc. are important skills to learn.
“I like the active training where you role play, because it puts you in the actual mindset of stress. Anytime you train under stress, you learn things about yourself. How you’re going to react, especially when you are handling multiple sounds,” said Officer Duke.
The hope is to have more active shooter training at all the schools, which could help officers, not familiar with a campus, to be better prepared in case they are ever called to support the SRO with an active shooter situation.
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