Brick Police Stay Prepared With School Shooter Drill

BRICK, NJ — A day after a mass shooting at a high school in Texas left 10 people dead and 10 more injured, Acting Superintendent Dennis Filippone sat in the Brick Township High School gym watching as police, fire and EMS workers responded during a drill.

The active shooter drill at the high school had been planned well in advance, part of ongoing training by Brick Township police and the school district to ensure everyone is prepared if an incident happens.

Knowing it was a drill didn't make it any easier to observe, Filippone said.

"To sit and watch the simulated actions of a school shooter in Brick Township's west gym was unsettling," Filippone said Monday. "But the rapid response, professionalism, and compassion of our police, fire, and EMS workers solidified my belief that in the event of a tragedy like the Parkland or Santa Fe school shootings they would respond quickly and effectively."

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How schools and law enforcement respond — both through efforts to prevent shootings in the first place, and in the midst of an incident — has been under intense scrutiny in the wake of the Parkland shooting that killed 14 students and three staff members and injured 16 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day.

Brick Township Police Chief James Riccio and Filippone, along with other officials, met the following morning to discuss what more the township and the district could do to protect students and to review plans already in place.

A student-led town hall meeting at Brick Memorial High School in late March gave students the chance to ask the adults questions about what is being done and what more they can do.

"If you have a concern, report it," Riccio told them. A month later, students acted on those words, reporting threats made by a fellow student at Brick Memorial.

Riccio said the drill, which happened the day after a gunman killed nine students and a teacher and injured 10 others at a high school in Santa Fe High School outside Houston, had been planned for the past several weeks.

"This is something that we have been doing for years at different schools and the movie theatre," he said. The goal is to ensure officers are so thoroughly trained that they don't have to think about what steps to take in a situation where every second counts.

Filippone said that while it was unnerving to watch the drill unfold, it was reassuring to know how quickly and thoroughly the police department would respond.

"Our police officers did not wait for backup to enter the building," Filippone said, referring indirectly to the Parkland shooting, where reports have said law enforcement waited outside rather than charging directly in while the shooter was still firing on students.

"The protection of our students and staff was their first and only priority," Filippone said. "On behalf of our entire school community I would like to thank Chief Riccio and his department for all that they have done and will continue to do to insure the safety of our students."

PHOTOS: 1. A mock gunshot wound is strapped to the leg of a student who was particpating in the drill at Brick Township High School. 2. Police Chief James Riccio addresses the participants in the auditorium before the drill begins. 3. Brick Township police officers search a smoke-filled hallway during the drill. Photos by Brick Township Police Department