Active shooter training may be coming to McComb.
Laura Fosselman, a training coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety’s Homeland Security office, spoke about bringing active shooter response classes to the area at last Tuesday’s city board work session.
City Administrator David Myers said Fosselman had spoken about the classes at a conference and Selectwoman Tabitha Felder Isaac wanted to bring the courses to McComb.
Fosselman said the classes were Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT), Exterior Response to Active Shooter Events (ERASE), Active Attack Integrated Response (AAIR), Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) and Church Safety and Security Planning.
Fosselman talked about how the ALERRT course could help officers.
“Every officer in the state is being taught through this class on how to enter a facility by themselves, unlike what happened in Parkland (Fla.), unlike what actually happened in Texas recently,” she said. “So it’s just more training, more training. The more training we can push up, the more training that your community can accept to offer will be life-saving. If we save one life, then we have done our job.”
Fosselman also stressed the importance of the ERASE course.
“We are really trying very hard to stop these intruders,” she said. “They are just totally monsters.”
Fosselman asked the board to help make the courses happen.
“I’m asking you as a city to host those classes and bring the communities together,” she said. “It’s really something that I have a lot of passion for. I have a lot of passion for the program and that’s been proven to save lives.
“Whether you’re here in this council meeting, in the office downstairs, at a restaurant, the training is applicable to everywhere you’re at. We teach you some techniques on what to do if a shooter does appear in front of you outside the door and so on.”
Felder Isaac said she will be in touch with Fosselman.
“I will be calling you, hopefully, by the end of this month to set up some classes for McComb and other counties,” she said. “I want the church and the whole community to be involved, to reach out.”
Fosselman said the United States Department of Homeland Security also is offering two grants that open in the first quarter of 2023 that could help with security.
One of them is for communities and the other is for houses of worship. The grants could fund security locks, cameras and first aid supplies.
“This is all free money,” she said.
