ONTARIO — Ontario supt. Keith Strickler was as pleased as one can be about an active shooter drill.
Strickler praised the Ontario Police Department during a school board meeting Tuesday night, a few weeks after a series of collaborative drills between the department and school system.
“Every interaction we have with (OPD) is incredible,” Strickler said. “They are the gold standard of what a police department should be.”
Both the school district and the department have had their separate drills in place for years, assistant superintendent Mike Ream said. This year, they combined them.
The first drill took place after an early release for students on Sept. 22. Officers fired blanks inside the building and teachers practiced evacuation procedures.
“We wanted one part to be pretty intense, pretty immersive, where you hear the shots, you smell the gunpowder and feel that adrenaline,” he said.
“We knew that probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do with a building full of kids.”
Ream said the day was intense and emotional, but staff response was positive.
The second drill took place on Oct. 6. The city’s fire and police units were present. The city government sent dump trucks to help provide cover and block off roadways.
“We practiced getting the kids into lockdown, clearing the building, going through an evacuation,” Ream said.
Administrators said the drill went well, but did reveal a few areas for potential improvement.
“Everything worked, but there were probably 10 to 15 tweaks that we now know that we can fix,” he said.
“It was a great experience. We definitely want to do this again. We learned a lot.”
Strickler said he appreciates the proactivity of the police department, both as an employee and a father.
“What you guys did this past week made those kids feel like they’re important,” he said. “They felt like they’re cared for and loved.”
Chief Tom Hill thanked the city government for its support and the school district for its cooperation.
“If it wasn’t for you guys working with us as good as you do, none of this would be possible,” he said. “And I do see school systems where that collaboration doesn’t exist.”
Hill also praised the work of his officers, calling them the department’s biggest asset.
“The biggest treasure in Ontario are our kids,” Hill added.
“I don’t think it’s a noble thing to drop everything that we do to protect our kids. I think that’s just something that is inherent and as a police officer, every day that’s what we do.”
Hill said the department plans to continue joint drills with the district each year, in additional to annual active shooter and rescue task force training.
“We hope we never have to use it. But we don’t want the first time we have to put this plan into play to be when it actually happens,” he said.
Hill estimated that his officers have a response time of “about a minute” within city limits. Officers receive a notification on their phone anytime an alarm goes off inside Ontario Local Schools.
