Rocklin fire and police officers participate in active shooter training

The Rocklin Police and Fire departments held a joint training session on Monday to train staff and the department's rescue task force in active shooter and response drills. The all-day training was at Granite Oaks Middle School in Rocklin. For the last 10 summers, Rocklin first responders have participated in the active-shooter training. "(During summer), school's out and they're great venues for training because it's more realistic," said Rocklin Police Captain Scott Horrillo. In addition, middle school and high school students often volunteer in these trainings to make it more realistic for first responders and police officers. "When we have young kids creating chaos and screaming, it shows our officers what is going to happen in a real incident like this," Horrillo added. "It's going to be chaos, right?" Horrillo noted that the student volunteers wear makeup to resemble gunshot wounds to make it as real as possible for the officers in training. "The Rocklin Unified School District partners with the Rocklin Police and Fire departments to be as prepared as possible for any situation that might occur during the school year," said Rocklin Unified School District chief community relations and engagement Sundeep Dosanjh. "This training is an opportunity to be fresh on our toes right with the school shooting safety training, too. To be prepared for any possible situation that might occur on any of our campuses." The Rocklin Police Department and Rocklin Unified School District also have designated school resource officers at each school to increase school safety, as well as safety education. School resource officers teach students and staff other responses to active shooters such as "run, hide and fight," and provide students and faculty with other safety drills to prepare for any type of emergency, according to Horrillo.