SALEM — Local first responders received two days of active-shooter response training this week.
Salem Police Department officers, Salem firefighters, and emergency medical staff from Cataldo and Atlantic Ambulance services participated in the program at the Bates Elementary School.
The Active Attack Integrated Response (AAIR) training, conducted by the ALERRT Center at Texas State University, brings together police, fire, and emergency medical services to undergo on-site integrated response training in preparation for potential active-shooter situations, officials said.
The state adopted the AAIR program in 2023, enabling state funding to go towards hiring AAIR educators from local police and fire departments, and local department funding only going towards the regular pay for the officers and firefighters in attendance.
Although Salem officers have engaged in active shooter response training in the past, this week’s training at is the “biggest bite they’ve taken from the apple,” Deputy Fire Chief Peter Schlaubin said.
“We’re talking here about a specific incident that might happen, but we have a three-tiered response with police, fire and medical, that we use every time there’s a medical call.
“So the more that we can do this type of stuff together, the better the education is going to be, and the more on the spot we’re going to be when an emergency comes around.”
Twenty-four local law enforcement, 12 members of the fire department, and additional emergency medical staff from ambulance services were taken through the fundamentals of active-shooter response. The training focuses on first stopping the shooter, then treating the injured, and finally evacuating patients from the scene to receive medical care.
An additional 12 officers from the Salem Police Department served as role players who assisted in playing out the simulated attack.
“Putting police officers and firefighters into these roles, with a little bit of stress, certainly helps them inoculate and train them to deal with the real event,” Merrimack Police Chief and AAIR trainer Eric Shears said. “This is as real as we can make it without actually having the real events.”
Texas State University and the ALERRT center partner with the FBI, and constantly analyze data from active attack events to update the tactics they teach to respond to constantly evolving threats.
With the focus of the training primarily being incident command and communication, AAIR training seeks to address some of the pitfalls that occur in active attack situations, specifically around collaboration and communication between departments.
“We want to stop the killing, then transition immediately to treating the dying, which we want police officers to start doing, and then finally rapidly get the people that have been injured from the crisis site to the hospital,” Shears said.
“And in order to do that, the best practice is for police, fire, and EMS to work together, so that’s what we’re training to do. We’re much stronger together than we are separate.”
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202