BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — In the wake of the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School the officers who were first on the scene and sprang into action are being hailed heroes.
Chris Harvey, Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) deputy executive director said the incident might have been worse if officials were not familiar with the school and able to stop the gunman.
The Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council sets training standards for all law enforcement officers in the state.
“I think after what happened in Uvalde, it really kind of woke people up," Harvey said. "In Georgia, the response was that's not going to happen here. We're not going to have people waiting while children are bleeding to death and being shot. We're going to go in there and solve the problem.”
The two school resource officers assigned to Apalachee High School, the Barrow County SRO unit commander and supervisor all attended at least three separate active shooter trainings at local schools in the last year, according to POST records.
The Barrow county SRO unit commander attended seven school shooting related trainings in that time, including one at Apalachee High School.
“I think, frankly, it probably has something to do with the results in terms of being able to stop the shooter, take him into custody without causing further injury or death," Harvey said. "They had trained multiple times for it, they trained in that school for it."
The trainings were not even required. POST did not mandate active shooter training for new Georgia officers until June 2024.
“That was probably the number one subject when we sat down to review the basic mandate," Harvey said. "We said, 'We've got to get active shooter in there.'"
Harvey said the mandate was last updated in 2006.
"I mean that was before the iPhone came out," Harvey said. "But it's never too late to start doing the right thing, and it's never too late to start training, even if something hasn't been kept up with, you can start today."
Not only were the Barrow County school resource officers not required to take active shooter training, but they did not even need the hours.
Georgia's law enforcement training requirement is 20 hours each year. The four officers 11Alive identified have a combined 348 hours already this year.
"I hope they they realize how how important it was that they were ready to do what needed to be done, and that they answered the call," Harvey said. "I think the only thing I could say to them is that they did a hell of a job."