Columbiana County ready to respond to school shootings

Local law enforcement agencies already have response plans.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

SALEM — Columbiana County law enforcement agencies have plans in place to respond to a school shooting.

Mayor Jerry Wolford raised the issue of police response last week after vetoing council’s elimination of the safety director, Greg Oesch.

Wolford said Oesch, who runs an alarm company, is working to upgrade equipment for the police and training for police and fire departments in case of a massacre similar to the killings at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.

But Special Weapons and Tactics is now “quad” in law enforcement lingo.

SWAT teams still exist, said chief Deputy Allen Haueter of the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office calls its team the “special response team.”

But the way law enforcement officials respond have changed, according to Haueter and Robert Floor, Salem’s police chief.

Haueter said that if there were a shooting at a school, it would take some time for team members to assemble, get their equipment and respond.

If there were a shooting at a Salem school, Haueter said Salem police would respond immediately. It’s likely that officers from Perry Township would also respond, and possibly officers from other departments, such as Goshen Township in Mahoning County. Other law enforcement officials, such as the highway patrol, might be in the city and also would respond.

That’s where “quad” comes in.

Ideally, the first four officers at the scene would identify where the shooting was taking place and would try to neutralize the shooter, Haueter and Floor said. A smaller number of officers might try to do the same thing.

If a suspect is barricaded in a room, law enforcement officials would try to contain the person.

Law enforcement officials recently had a training session at the East Palestine schools. Floor said the Salem department has been working well with the school superintendent on safety planning.

The sheriff’s office has been collecting floor plans from schools and other buildings for reference in case of a shooting.

Floor said his department in Salem has had plans and has been updating them.

Council’s rules and ordinances committee recommended the safety director’s post be eliminated, however.

Clyde Brown, committee chairman, said Floor and fire Chief Jeff Hughes had started at rookies and worked their way up.

“It’s time to put the responsibility of community safety where it belongs, and that is on the chief of police and the chief of the fire department,” Brown said.

wilkinson@vindy.com