At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the City of Carlsbad Police Department detailed its in-depth approach and extensive training for a potential active shooter emergency. According to a report prepared by the Police Department, shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, underscore the significant need for investment in the ongoing training, development and equipping of public safety personnel and the community.

The Police Department has a policy that specifically addresses the response to active shooter incidents, directing officers responding to an active shooter incident:

“If a suspect is actively engaged in the infliction of serious bodily harm or other life-threatening activity toward others, officers should take immediate action.”

This policy is intended to ensure that department personnel understand their responsibility to intervene immediately to minimize the potential for loss of life. This important obligation and expectation of officers is reinforced through ongoing training.

All Carlsbad Police officers have participated in a minimum of eight hours of training with an emphasis on:

• The moral imperative of rapid response and the expectation that even solo officers will take immediate action to deploy a concept of “stop the killing”
• Breaching skills to acquire rapid access to classrooms
• Deployment of rescue teams, consisting of police and fire personnel, to apply immediate lifesaving medical aid to support the mission of “stop the dying”
• Integration with Fire Department personnel and employment of the Rescue Task Force, allowing police and medical personnel to respond to dangerous environments together

In addition to training its own personnel, the Police Department has conducted over 80 training events, providing this potentially life-saving information to over 3,400 people since 2017. The department is currently working on a video version of the training so it can be shared even more widely.  The Police Department also participates in large-scale training incidents that simulate significant active shooter attacks at a variety of locations and require collaborating with multiple police agencies, fire, city, county and venue staff.

In 2010, the Carlsbad police and fire departments responded to an incident at Kelly Elementary when an individual scaled the fence and began shooting at students on the playground. Several construction workers on campus intervened and tackled the gunman. The two children who were shot fortunately only sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

More information
Read the full report
Carlsbad Police Department webpage