Marshall police chief talks about active shooter response plans

MARSHALL, Texas (KLTV) - In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting and others, an East Texas police chief makes a timely presentation on active shooter response plans.

At Thursday nights Marshall city council meeting, police chief Cliff Carruth addressed council.

“I think of Sandy Hook, I think of Sutherland Springs, I think of the business district here in Marshall. We do have at the end of this month an active shooter one on one training for every police officer at the Marshall police department,” he said in front of city council. “In our preparedness for active shooters, people talking about it because of some the incidents that have taken place like Uvalde. It’s changed, the threats, you’d have to be from Mars not to realize that.”

His plan would include an updated coordinated effort to combat active shooter scenarios, studying past incidents.

“Every video, every event that takes place in the United States, we look at those videos, we look and study. Training is not a one-time event, it’s ongoing, it’s continual,” the chief said.

“I don’t think spending money to put a gun in every teacher’s hand is the answer. What equipment are you missing? Because a you have to be able to communicate, it shouldn’t just be a teacher hovering in a corner on her cell phone,” said city councilwoman Jennifer Truelove.

“One of their questions was what resources do you need to keep the community safe,” Carruth said.

Important to any active shooter response plan is coordination and time. Seconds count. And the training is critical.

“You have to train on a consistent basis, more so in this day and time when so many incidents pop up,” said councilman Marvin Bonner.

Carruth informed the council his plan has been in place for the past three years, keying on coordination.

“Working with the school district, working with the fire department, sheriff’s office, the hospital. To make sure we’re ready for something that we pray never happens,” he said.

Chief Carruth told city council, one need is a new radio system for police to communicate with all agencies that would coordinate in an active shooter scenario.