(left to right) Undersheriff Steve Smith, HTCJP Chair, bill berry, jr., and Sheriff Brian Schenck (photo credit Lisa Brennan) August 19, 2020

bill berry, jr. (chair, Harriet Tubman Center for Justice and Peace, Inc.) and Lisa Brennan (secretary, HTCJP) participated or more pointedly observed the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) "Active Shooter" training on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. There were two training exercises that they witnessed. Afterwards, they had an enhanced understanding of the split second decisions that must be made by officers when there is an active shooter in a facility whether it is a school, hospital, office building, movie theater, another venue, and especially where there have been innocent people wounded or killed in the facility.

After firing a few rounds of the ammunition training gun – not real, the HTCJP chair inadvertently pointed the gun towards the Sheriff and Undersheriff (also where Lisa was standing supposedly out of harms way) and panic quickly spread with multiple shouts of "point the gun downwards." Embarrassed, the voices still rung in bill's ears well after he left the county's vacant nursing home located adjacent to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, currently being utilized as a CCSO training facility. So, bill did NOT shoot the sheriff or even the "deputy." Bob Marley is now further embedded in berry's consciousness.

Many thanks to the graciousness of Sheriff Schenck and Undersheriff Smith, as well as the officers in training and the training officer for their time and answering a variety of questions. Their answers and subsequent discussion increased the understanding of what law enforcement does in dire situations that we hope will never be manifested in Cayuga County.

For those who may be interested in experiencing this exercise or other aspects of public safety training, please send an e-mail to bschenck@cayugacounty.us