An instructor of law enforcement courses at Southwest Mississippi Community College gave some advice for the general public if they find themselves in the middle of an active shooter incident.
“Don’t be a hero; that’s the first thing,” Jewel Bond told the McComb Lions Club on Tuesday. “Call law enforcement, hide where you can. If in a school setting, it’s important to know where the closest exits are and if it’s possible to lock the door from inside. Secure that room. Stay away from the windows.”
That’s just what several students and teachers did at Delta State University on Monday, when one professor allegedly killed another in his office hours after apparently killing his girlfriend on the Coast. Pictures posted to social media showed students and professors barricading classroom doors from the inside with desks and chairs.
The subject of shootings arose among Lions Club members, who met a day after the Delta State shooting. It was the second report of a gunman on a Mississippi college campus this year.
Bond, a probation officer for the Mississippi Department of Corrections in addition to being an instructor at Southwest, has 23 years of experience in police dispatch, patrol, juvenile justice and corrections.
The college now offers part-time, refresher and in-service law enforcement classes.
“Most of you haven’t heard of it and those that have might not know that much about it,” Bond said. “We are able to do everything a full-time academy does except give full-time certification. Our goal was to make this the best academy there is from a smaller college, and that’s what we are becoming.”
Bond briefed members on some of the courses at the college, including one designed to provide instruction for lawmen when responding to active shooter situations.
Other law enforcement courses include patrol, criminal justice history, crime scene investigation, accident investigation, narcotics, courts and detention.
“We are para-military, so we provide the discipline. You pay tuition, come to class and from Day 1, you belong to me,” Bond said.
Bond said the college has shooting, firearms and driving simulators to make the classes similar to reality.
“We have equipment some of the full-time academies do not have,” she said.
The academy saves money for area law enforcement by eliminating the need for city and county boards to pay for travel and hotel expenses, Bond said.
“We take them to the fire station, put on all the gear and equipment and teach them everything they need to know about hazardous materials and other fire-related training,” she said. “It’s a lot more hands on — a lot more.”
Students who successfully complete the multi-tiered courses will have the minimum skills to become a police officer.
“Students will take our certification and give it to the agency they are applying to and they will then determine whether their standards have been met,” Bond said.
The refresher course is for officers who have been out of service for at least two years.
The in-service program is for, as it sounds, officials who are in the field.
Regarding the active shooter incidents, Bond said college instructors go to local businesses, the hospital, and schools to inform them of what they should do in the case of an active shooter incident.
“Unfortunately it is something that is happening more and more every year, so we offer many courses on it,” Bond said.
