Active shooter field training promotes collaboration among agencies

Local law enforcement and emergency responders partnered with Socorro High School to conduct a field training exercise on campus, involving about 100 participants.

“I would say that it was a huge success in that we had such robust participation," Jason Everett, chair of the Socorro County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) said. "Just getting all these responders and teachers involved in the same activity, builds relationships and prepares us in the event that we could have some kind of catastrophic event at a school,”

Participants included representatives from City of Socorro Fire, Socorro County Sheriff’s office, City of Socorro Police, Socorro County Emergency Office, New Mexico Tech, The Very Large Array EMS, New Mexico State Police and Magdalena EMS, plus Socorro High School staff.

Socorro High School Principal Elizabeth Rivera said it was reassuring to see the community’s first responders and school staff working side-by-side to proactively prepare for a variety of scenarios.

“Through meaningful collaboration, conversations and hands-on drills, we continue strengthening our readiness and ensuring our schools remain safe, supportive places for every student.” Rivera said, “Today was a powerful example of our shared commitment to safety and continuous improvement.”

Everett said the training was not only for emergency responders but also for school staff to refresh their knowledge of policies and procedures.

“Socorro School District has been really proactive and developing their plans for emergencies and training their people,” Everett said.

The field training was two years in the making, said Everett. The LEPC organized a tabletop drill in December 2024, followed by an active shooter drill tabletop in March 2025 all leading up to the field training on Friday. Everett said the tabletops gave them insights into areas in need of improvement, including communication issues, particularly with radio frequencies and the need for improved unified command.

“Having them all at the same table, talking about what their tactical priorities are, and working together on their communication and then managing the incident as a group, I thought went really well,” Everett said.

Socorro County Emergency Manager Fred Berger said the goal was to determine where the holes were and how to improve them. He said the training has enabled them to improve their understanding of command roles and communication, resulting in smoother unified command operations.

“It's really a big thing for us to work on unified command.” Berger said, “We get to know each other's personalities, our strengths, our weaknesses, and we get to see how we can work together and solve these problems.”

He said the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security also attended the drill.

“We had three people from (NMDHS) show up to sort of look at what we were doing. And I think they were impressed that the Socorro County area is actually doing this,” Berger said. “It was good to see them there and get their feedback also.”

The next steps for the LEPC will include an after-action report, where they will review and follow up on any identified issues.

“We'll talk about fixes and then assign who's going to do the fix and in what kind of timeframe,” Everett said.

The goal for the LEPC is to hold two hands-on training sessions a year, with the next tentatively scheduled for this summer.

“I'm thrilled with how it went,” Everett said. “It gives us some pretty clear direction on what we need to work on.”