Santa Fe deputies train for active shooter situations

SANTA FE, N.M. — Deputies in Santa Fe are training for the worst case scenario – an active shooter situation.

“This training is imperative to make sure that our officers are prepared to respond to any critical incident, including an active shooting within the school system,” said Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.

A Denver-based consulting group is leading the week-long training held at different schools around Santa Fe. Besides the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement from Española, the Bureau of Land Management, Taos, Santa Ana, Tesuque Pubelo, and the Department of Corrections are also participating in the training.

“We’ve seen both spectrums – we’ve seen cops try to do the right thing, just basically run to their death, get out of their, run into this building, and it’s the last steps that they take, right, they want to get in and do the right thing,” said Joe Deedon with TAC*ONE Consulting. “Then we’ve seen the exact opposite, you know, we have 19 cops in a hall for over an hour. So we’re trying to find that fine line.”

Deedon is referring to the school schooting in Uvalde, Texas in May that killed 19 students and two teachers, sparking outrage over the police response.

In Santa Fe, it’s a training law enforcement officers hope they will never need to use – but they’re preparing just in case.