The Enon Police Department working with the Greenon Local School District hosted simulated active shooter training at Indian Valley Middle School on Saturday, January 18, 2014.

“We wanted to offer this training to better prepare our officers in the event this occurs at schools located in Enon,” said Enon Police Chief Lew Wilcox. “The safety of our schools is a priority for both the department and the district. While we are taking steps every day to ensure a safe school environment and prevent this type of tragedy from happening, we also need to make sure that our officers and school staff are prepared to handle any situation that arises to protect the children of our community. This will provide "hands on" training for the Officers as well as providing insight for the school in how the police department will respond to such an incident and helps to provide a closer working relationship between police and school staff/officials for this type of incident as well as other incidents or events that may occur in the future.

Training began at 8 a.m. with classroom training and officers, EMS and school personnel participated in simulation and scenario training during the afternoon.

“School safety is a critical issue for the Greenon school district,” said Superintendent Dan Bennett. “We have resource officers working in our schools thanks to partnerships with the Village of Enon and Clark County, a comprehensive safety plan, the 360 program from the Clark County Auditor’s Office to provide law enforcement with detailed building plans and we have upgraded our security systems at entrances to ensure a secure environment. This training is just another step for our most important duty of providing a safe, secure learning environment for students.”

Eighteen law enforcement officers and thirty school staff members signed up to participate in the training. Members of local EMS departments also participated.

“I am thrilled that the district is being proactive in this training,” said GHS Math Teacher and Greenon Federation of Teachers President Ms. Amy Geiger, who participated in the training. “The staff hopes to never need to use the training but we are glad to be better prepared for any situation.”