Deputies practice Columbine-like scenario

Photo courtesy Lost Hill's Sheriffs Station PREPARED- Lost Hills Sheriff's Station Capt. Tom Martin oversees the annual Active Shooter training exercise at Agoura High School. Deputies practiced the tactics they would use if a Columbine-type attack ever occurred at one of the local schools.

As students, teachers, administrators and other personnel were taking their winter break, the Agoura High School campus was transformed into a stage for an "active shooter" training exercise by the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station.

According to Lost Hills Sgt. Jim Royal, the school is used each year to train officers how to react if an armed student or intruder enters the school. This year's event took place on the first day of winter break, Dec 22.

Royal said the exercise reinforces law enforcement techniques that have been in place ever since two teenage boys fatally shot 12 students and a teacher at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999. Royal said the Columbine massacre taught law enforcement officials the importance of quick response.

"They waited, waited and waited," Royal said. Now officers would jump into the fray even without specific tactical procedures in place. "Policies have changed since Columbine," he said. Even though a similar incident has never occurred locally, Royal wants to be prepared.

He said the training exercise included containing the area, assisting with the evacuation of students to a safe area, and communication with parents. "We try to stop the threat," he said.

- - Stephanie Bertholdo