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Thursday night, at the Simpson County Courthouse, the lawmen of Simpson County gather for an exercise in what to do in case of an active shooter. Diane and I were invited to come…and we had quite an experience! I had no idea what to do or where to go but soon learned to “follow” the lead. 
Diane, Grayson Segini and I gingerly walked up the big long steps to the Courtroom of the Simpson County Court House. There were “cops” everywhere…some even in gas mask! We received our instructions, put on our Sheriff vest (we were good guys…secured our safety glasses and position ourselves in the jury box. I couldn’t figure out the use of safety glasses until I realized the “bullets” were “soap bullets” that can really sting and actually make “holes” in the skin. Diane and I soon realized as usual, we had lost our minds. 
Hours and hours of work went into this exercise. Practice makes perfect…and role playing these type scenarios are a way to learn what might happen and how to handle an active shooter in a court room.
Each lawman has his assigned position…. 
Scenario: The Circuit Court is in session. A murder case involving a known drug dealer is being deliberated. Reports of gunfire have been heard from the courtroom area. Active gunfire is occurring at the present time. 9111 calls are from people who escaped downstairs and are outside the building. Multiple screams can be heard and voices calling for help. Unknown assailants are presumed to have taken over the courtroom, no description is available. There has been no direct contact with court security nor anyone from the courtroom area. Most of the officers have evacuated themselves although some workers may still be inside their offices. It is assumed Court Personnel and the court audience are still in the courtroom. Entry is available only from the West side of the Courthouse.
Two different teams carried out the exercise. We first observed the group in the courthouse area. We got in the corner in the Rotunda and observed the lawmen entering the building and making their way up the stairs to the court house.
I just thought the “guns” made noise…on no…they shot small “soap” bullets which can do damage.
When Glen Jennings told us to wear the vest and safety glasses, I thought this is nuts….but I didn’t feel that way for long! At times Diane, Grayson and I all had our heads down!
Incident Command—–Sheriff Donald O’Cain
PIO——Sheriff Donald O’Cain and Scott Womack
Safety——Marvin Miller
Liaison—–Matt Abbott
Planning——Glen Jennings
Operations——Chris Wallace and Joe Andrews
Logistics——James Floyd
Exercise Director——Chief of Staff Scott Womack
Controllers——Scott Womack, Clay McPherson, Glen Jennings
Evaluators——Chief Randy Crawford, Chief Candy McCullum, and Controllers
The Simpson County Exercise is a Full-scale Exercise designed to establish a learning environment for players to exercise agency response plans, Policies and procedure as they pertain to hostile intruders (Active Shooters) in a County Courthouse environment. Only 1st and 3nd floors will be used in the Exercise. Offices locked will be off limits to play. Stairs in the center rotunda are to be unused.
The Objectives:
Evaluate the overall incident Command System, Inter-Agency Cooperation and Unified Command
Evaluate the ability of Law Enforcement to communicate
Response and staging will determine if Operation activation procedures need to be updated.
No firearms are allowed into the Exercise area. There are no exceptions.
Simpson County has a strong and capable law enforcement community continually striving to train our men and women.
Following the last excise, 3 men came into the Rotunda from upstairs. I almost fainted when I saw the “wounds” Robin Williams had received from the “soap” bullets…and then one of the men showed me his safety glasses that had been shatter by bullets. At this point, I was a happy woman that the person in charge insisted that Diane and I wear a vest plus safety glasses.
Our men work hard to protect the people of Simpson county. Thank you to these men and women who took the time and effort to learn ways to keep us safe.
Hats off to this group—ya’ll are all heroes to me!
