Tulsa County Deputies Practice Response To Active Shooter Situation

Tulsa County Deputies are even better prepared no to respond to an active shooter situation after a training session on Thursday.

Phillip Garland, the Superintendent of Liberty Public Schools said school shootings are a concern ahead of the coming school year.

He said this training is crucial in keeping school what it's always meant be: a safe space to learn.

After the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, school officials say training for active shootings is essential.

"When you mentioned Uvalde, a chill went down my spine," Garland said.

Deputies ran through several drills and scenarios of an active shooter around the school.

One of the biggest focuses is to learn the layout of each school they train in, so they are prepared to respond.

Corporal Latif Whitsett with the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office said after the Uvalde shooting, they received more calls from people asking for help on security.

"Unfortunately, it has come to where people are seeking more knowledge, but we are grateful that they are reaching out to us to gain that knowledge," Whitsett said.

Garland said as a teacher, seeing news about a school shooting never gets easier.

"School shootings are nothing new at all but for some reason for me, and I was still teaching at the time, the Columbine incident just really brought it home," Garland said. "The real senselessness and terror of it."

Whitsett said he wants to assure the students and parents of Liberty Public Schools that they are ready for the worst.

"We're going to respond accordingly, and we are going to de exactly what you think we're going to do which is stop the treat as soon as possible and evacuate the kids as soon as we can," Whitsett said.

Whitsett said the next school they will be training at will be Keystone Public schools.

He said all deputies will go through this training.