Legion, Van Buren Officials Team Up For Training Monday

The American Legion and the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office are partnering for an active shooter training presentation Monday night.

Van Buren Administrative Lieutenant Bill Davis said he will teach residents the basics of survival in the event of a shooting. Davis said leadership from the Legion reached out to the Sheriff’s Office and they thought it would be a great way to keep the community prepared.

“You see it happening everywhere else and you never think it’s going to be here, but they’ve all said that too,” Davis said. “So, you need to know what you may see, what you hear because when things do go sideways, you revert back to what you know. Training is just beneficial.”

He said the event is open to the public on Monday from 6:00-8:00pm at the American Legion Building. He said when he started his law enforcement career, he never would have imagined we would reach a point where we had to offer training like this.

“As far as just folks walking into random places and shooting people, no,” Davis said. “I never thought we would go to churches and set up teams for just that purpose, or your office building for what may happen if somebody gets mad and comes in, or somebody and a family member that’s upset or those things. No, I never thought that’s something we would be doing.”

Davis said that because that is our reality, people need the best training they can get. He said he plans to present a three-pronged survival approach. First, people should try to escape. If that is not possible, he will teach people how to properly hide and barricade themselves into a space. He said if those both fail, just fight.

“Definitely going to talk about what happens when law enforcement arrives,” Davis said. “You need to do what they tell you to do, even though with the stress, you’re going to have auditory exclusion. You’re really not going to hear what’s going on, so when you see them, just obey.”

He said the group will take a look at active shooter situations from the past and break down what people did right, what they did wrong, and what they could have done to ensure their survival. He said the event will be a great learning resource for Van Buren County residents to fall back on in the event of a catastrophe.