PCSO, BBB Hope for More ALICE Training Sessions

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and Better Business Bureau (BBB) look forward to hosting more ALICE training exercises following a session at Life Church in Cookeville Tuesday.

Marty Donnelly is the Regional Manager of the Upper Cumberland BBB. She said having these training sessions is important for the community.

“Even if it only saves one life, it’s worth saving your employees and learning what to do,” Donnelly said. “It was a very interactive training today and we’re just glad that… the Putnam County Sheriff’s department was nice enough to do it for free today. We appreciate it.”

Lieutenant Eric Hall said even a single training session can potentially save someone’s life down the road.

“You hear the old adage of an ounce of prevention, a pound of cure,” Hall said. “So a little bit of knowledge really helps you understand what to do in some type of active aggression situation. If you don’t a little forethought and planning, you tend to freeze, and that’s what we don’t want to happen. We want people thinking about what could happen and have different ideas that we teach in the training of what to do in that particular situation.”

Donnelly said she hopes to see the partnership between the BBB and PCSO offering ALICE training become a regular event.

“I would like to make it a yearly thing and have some more participation,” Donnelly said. “We had a good turnout today and we’d like it to be a yearly thing.”

Hall said even during the Tuesday training session, businesses were calling him to set up times for additional exercises.

“I’m getting calls on a weekly basis, sometimes daily,” Hall said. “This is happening all over the country. It seems every week we hear of something and it’s on peoples’ minds, so they need to prepare for something.”

ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate. The training sessions help businesses and employees understand what to do in the case of an active shooter or aggressor situation.