Local first responders train at Lost River Elementary School

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Earlier on Tuesday, local law enforcement, along with the Bowling Green Fire Department and EMS, conducted important training, preparing for the worst possible scenarios.

This yearly training, which involves every first responder and law enforcement officer, took place at Lost River Elementary School and goes over different possible events, such as shootings and mass casualties, and requires the different departments to work with each other in these stressful environments to save as many lives as possible.

The communication skills the trainees learn is very critical in case they were to respond to any disasters.

“This is very important, for law enforcement, EMS, fire, to all get together in these situations, because we’re working together every day and on very critical incidents. We’re all going to be there. So it is very important for us to have conversations. We have a lot of communication, to know what everybody’s doing when that does occur, or if it does occur. So it’s very good for collaboration, but it’s also we know each other, now we are training together. So we feel like we’re more efficient, and that converts overall to overall safety for the community,” said Matt Edwards, director of school safety for Warren County Public Schools and SRO manager for the Warren County Sheriffs Office.

Going over these challenging and confusing scenarios, such as school shootings and mass casualty events, helps officers gain confidence in their abilities during a crisis, and in turn, help the officers, firefighters and EMTs save as many lives as they possibly can.