By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor

In today’s day and age, the threat of an active shooter looking to cause massive casualties is becoming more and more prevalent. To prepare for these types of situations, should they occur locally, the Pennsauken Township and Merchantville police departments are participating in joint rapid deployment training.

“There have been too many incidents throughout this country,” explains Pennsauken Police Chief John Coffey. “We need to go in prepared.”

During the holidays, when schools were out of session, officers from both Pennsauken and Merchantville participated in onsite training at Pennsauken High School, Bishop Eustace High School and Merchantville Elementary.

“We use schools as a training element,” explains Officer Todd Goschler, a member of the Pennsauken Police Department who gave a lecture on new best practices and provided instruction during the practical element of the training. “These incidents don’t necessarily happen at schools; it can happen anywhere. But schools offer things that every building has: hallways, rooms, stairs, basements, etc.”

The rapid deployment training was based on research conducted by the National Tactical Officers Association, who works in tandem with the military to identify best practices.

“Every time there’s an incident, law enforcement agencies learn from it,” says Sergeant Gerry Henkel from Pennsauken Police. “The policing community evaluates responses to new situations and adapts these practices to their current procedures. Our response is always evolving.”

Law enforcement response to a mass casualty incident has changed drastically from the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. Timing is truly critical, as these active shooter incidents are usually already occurring as police arrive. The focus is moving rapidly to find the threat and neutralize it as quickly as possible to illuminate further casualties.

“The danger in these situations is imminent and we have to act now to save lives,” says Goschler. “We’re focusing on quicker tactics.”

This need for a quicker response – and a continued focus on collaborative partnerships between municipalities – highlights the continued importance of the Pennsauken and Merchantville police forces to work together.

“Merchantville is now on our radio frequency, so we can talk directly to them. They’re backing us up and we’re backing them up on routine calls,” says Coffey. “Merchantville’s officers could very well be the first ones to respond to some of the elementary schools in Pennsauken; our officers could be the first responders to Merchantville’s schools. There’s no doubt, in any type of situation, we’re going to be calling on them and they’ll call on us.”

“Merchantville is three-quarters of the way surrounded by Pennsauken and strategically we’re central to Pennsauken, so it makes perfect sense,” adds Merchantville Police Chief Wayne Bauer. “This is just another step to better serve our two communities.”

Currently, over 40 police officers – as well as the Class II officers currently assigned in Pennsauken schools – have undergone rapid deployment training. Plans are to educate all of the officers serving Pennsauken and Merchantville on these new procedures as quickly as possible. Plans are also in the works to have personnel from the Pennsauken Fire Department and EMS train with the police for these types of scenarios.

“Training is key. We have to be prepared,” says Goschler. “This is our job. It’s what we’ve signed up for: to save lives.”