POCATELLO — In the wake of Friday’s tragic elementary school shooting in Connecticut, the Pocatello Police Department stands prepared to take on any similar situation if it were to occur in our community.

    Pocatello Police Lt. Paul Manning says the department regularly trains in active-shooter scenarios, not only for school shootings, but a variety of situations.

    “It’s ongoing and progressive training that we do,” he said. “We train for many situations, but in particular we train for schools and places where you have a large number of people. Whether it’s an auditorium or a mall we train for many different active shooter scenarios.”

    Manning says that horrific events like this only reinforce the need for training because you never know when and where it could occur again.

    “From Colorado to Connecticut and Virginia to Oregon tragedies like this cross the nation, so every officer never knows when or where it’s going to happen again,” he said.

    Manning said the police department, working in conjunction with the school district, are more than prepared should the day come where they get the call from school administrators requesting either stepped-up security or response to an active shooter situation. But the police veteran says you may never be able to prevent these situations entirely.

    “In my opinion the school district and us are prepared the best we can, but it’s hard to say if it can ever be totally stopped,” he said.

    Manning says the department’s Immediate Response Team and SWAT team train year round and are among the most prepared divisions in their department. However, he says all of the officers in the force have had and continue to receive the necessary training to respond to a crisis situation should the time ever come.

    “We have emergency procedures and plans in place and we train on those procedures along with other agencies because in a large situation for any one agency to try and handle it alone would be too much, so you have to have a cooperative effort,” he said.

    He also noted that through Idaho’s Post Academy, Peace Officer Standards and Training, law enforcement officers statewide receive the same fundamental training. Allowing any officer that responds to a situation, no matter where it might be, to show up on scene and have the know how to get the job done. Even if the officer finds himself in an entire different city.

    “We may not train shoulder to shoulder with other departments but we train consistently so that were all getting the same training,” he said.  “So if an incident does occur, we’re all on the same page even if we have not trained together.”

    So whether it’s Blackfoot or Arimo, Manning says you can rest assured that whoever shows up on scene will have the necessary training and experience to handle the situation.

    “It all goes back to the old saying, ‘you plan to fail, if you fail to plan,’” he said.