EPD, PCSO beat national average response by 10 minutes
Putnam County Charter School System, Eatonton Police Department, and Putnam County Sheriff’s Office held active shooter drills last week in every school, and they were pleased with the “outstanding” and “extraordinary” results.
“The goal of these drills was to gauge law enforcement response times and student and faculty reaction to a lockdown event,” PCCSS Assistant Superintendent Derick Austin said. “The response times were outstanding from both the sheriff’s office and police department.”
Putnam County Middle and Putnam County Elementary schools held their drills Wednesday, Aug. 29, and Putnam County High and Putnam County Primary schools were on Thursday, Aug. 30.
The drills were “meticulously planned beforehand…. (to ensure) that all parties involved were well informed of the procedures,” the school system said in its notice to the community posted on Facebook.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills and Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell each emphasized that although they knew the drills would take place at all schools in the two-day period, they were unaware of the exact times and locations of which school they would be responding to.
“We didn’t want to know because we wanted to be about our normal business so it’d be as realistic as possible,” Sills explained.
The first to arrive at the primary school was an EPD officer, who was there in less than two minutes, Sills said. He arrived in four minutes, “and by eight minutes, a total of 10 law enforcement officers from the police department and sheriff’s office were on scene.”
Putnam’s Fire Department and EMS also were dispatched and responded to the drills. Response times were similar at all the schools, including the high school which is the farthest away from each agency’s home base. The first deputy arrived at the high school in a little over four minutes, according to the sheriff.
“It’s extraordinarily fast, and that was knowing it was a drill,” Sills opined. “If it’d been the real thing, we would’ve driven even faster. In the world of law enforcement response times, that was extraordinarily fast, but I know that two minutes is a helluva long time for the people in the classrooms in that situation.”
One of the new laws Governor Brian Kemp signed on April 13 was the School Safety Bill, House Bill 147, which requires all Georgia schools to perform annual drills for responding to campus shooters by Oct. 1 each year.
It is unknown but presumed the School Safety Bill is a result of the May 2022 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 children and two teachers were fatally shot and 17 others injured.
Investigations by state officials later reportedly revealed lapses in public safety leaders’ communication that caused significant delays in law enforcement intervention.
According to the National Sheriffs Association, the average response time to an active shooter or school intruder is 15 minutes, Austin said. “In comparison to that national average, our law enforcement response times were excellent,” he added.
Chief Cardwell also praised his department, saying he was “real pleased with our response times. The dispatcher did a great job dispatching us and the officers, everybody, did a great job.”
“I want to thank Sheriff Sills and Chief Cardwell, who both responded to each drill, and their deputies and officers for their exemplary response and professionalism during this event that covered two days,” Austin said. “Both agencies are truly committed to the safety and welfare of the faculty, staff, and students of the Putnam County Charter School System. I would also like to thank each school’s staff and student body for recognizing the seriousness of this training and enthusiastically following the safety protocols during this drill."