Sand Springs Adds New Equipment To Active Shooter Response Kits

The Sand Springs Police Department is upgrading the equipment it would use to respond to active shooters.

The new active shooter response kits are similar to the old kits the department has been using, but there are some new pieces of equipment inside. The old kits primarily contained medical supplies with storage for extra equipment such as ammo and magazines, but the police department found over the course of the last several years that officers needed the ability to quickly get through doors in emergency situations.

The new kits come equipped with door stoppers and a crowbar-like tool that will help officers get through doors that are locked or blocked.

"Most of the tools that are out there in the market are big and bulky, and when you usually show up at an incident and somebody brings out a bunch of tools? Well, by then it's too late because the people that need to be in the building are already in the building so they need to have something with them at all times so that if they need it, they have it," Todd Enzbrenner, Sand Springs deputy chief, said.

Not only does the new equipment allow officers to get into areas they need to be in during an active shooter situation, but it also allows them to get in much quicker without having to look for alternative points of entry.

"We will be able to go. If our people decide to go a certain direction, their job is to go toward the gunfire. That’s their job. So if they go towards that area and the doors are blocked or locked, they have the ability to get it open," Enzbrenner said.

The department just received the kits at the end of March, ad it was all thanks to the Justice Assistance Grant. The grant allowed the Sand Springs Police Department to get 33 kits, one for each officer. The kits will be prepped and placed in each of the officer's police cars at all times.