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Preparing for the Worst: A Sheriff Department's High-Tech Answer to School Shootings

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From adding shelters to arming teachers, communities are exploring ways to protect students from another school shooting.

One sheriff's department has taken matters into its own hands with a futuristic training tool.

The Stafford County Sheriff's Office in Virginia has installed a state-of-the-art active shooter simulator from VirTra.  

Once inside the simulator, officers like Deputy Dominic Torrice face one of a hundred different scenarios with numerous outcomes.

Sometimes it's a school, other times a movie theater.

Surrounded by sounds and pictures, a vibrating floor, real life actors and guns filled with CO2 – it's as close as it comes to the real thing.
 
Thirteen-year veteran 1st Sgt. Joe Bice helps lead the training, calmly showing each deputy what went right and what went wrong.
 
"Let's talk about action and reaction. The guy has a gun. Could you identify him from inside? Was that the same guy that was inside the theater?" he asks Torrice.
 
Sometimes there are close calls, like when a plainclothes officer suddenly appears on the scene, gun in hand.

The deputy must decide – is he friend or foe?

Bice says moments like that force their deputies to access difficult situations.

The simulator even teaches them to keep track of rounds and know exactly how much ammunition they have left.

"We don't have unlimited bullets in real life... if they try to shoot it anymore they'll just hear a click," Bice explained to CBN News.

Torrice says the adrenaline is real.
 
"It's intense," he said of the experience. "Two times in a row I've done it and my blood is still pumping, starting to sweat a little bit. It's good training."
 
That emotion is good. Bice hopes the program prepares officers for the worse.
 
"I've seen people shot before; it's intense," he said. "And then add in children and that's a lot of extra stress on the deputy or the officer that's involved that they're going to have to deal with."  
 
He also hopes it teaches them how to make life-altering choices, like when to avoid lethal force.
 
Although nothing compares to real life experience, Bice says he feels better knowing his deputies are arriving to the scene with this kind of preparation.
 
And the cost to tax payers? Not a cent as this is all covered by money seized from illegal drug operations.
 
The sheriff's department told CBN News they are opening up the facility to officers in surrounding counties and school resource officers as well.

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About The Author

Amber C.
Strong

Amber Strong joined the CBN News team in Washington, D.C., in 2014 as a producer and field producer. Currently, she works as a correspondent, producer, and backup anchor for "The Brody File." Her beat includes national politics and The White House. And while she loves her current backyard of Washington, D.C., she’s a Hoosier girl at heart. Amber lives and breathes all things entertainment and politics and has had the privilege of interviewing some of the biggest names in both industries, including late night host Jimmy Fallon and presidential contender Rick Santorum. However, her true love is