ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — With each mass shooting, we think, “What if it happens here?”
St. Louis County Police say they are confident in their ability to respond.
"We've been training for this. We don't ignore the fact that these are happening across the country,” Sgt. Shawn McGuire said.
St. Louis County Police started region-wide active shooter training in 2010, and McGuire said the department pays close attention to each mass shooting to implement their lessons.
"Because we want to learn what happened. We want to learn what worked for these departments and agencies. We want to find out what didn't work,” he said.
Each department in the St. Louis area goes through the same training, so they'll all respond the same way if the worst-case-scenario happens, McGuire said.
They've even trained our fire departments.
“You know if something happens at a hospital in Chesterfield there's going to be a lot of response from municipalities and our department to that scene,” he said.
McGuire said when they're training with fellow officers, they use air-soft guns so it hurts when they get hit. That's because they want it to be as close to real-life as possible.
"We're confident in our response," McGuire said.
The department also trains schools, hospitals and private businesses.
McGuire says people should think about how they would respond in a mass-shooting situation: Run, hide or fight. Preparing is safer than thinking “it can’t happen here.”