The Nashville community is still reeling from the devastating mass shooting at a school there on Monday where six people died, including three children.

The world is getting a firsthand look at how police handled the crisis with the release of the police body-worn camera footage.

A highly-trained SWAT commander in Monroe County, New York talks about the intense training police throughout the community receive.


What You Need To Know

  • MCSO SWAT Commander Lt. Josh DeRuyter talks about active shooter training following a mass shooting at a Nashville school
  • Police body-worn camera footage will be reviewed by law enforcement agencies in Monroe County, across New York and the country for learning purposes
  • In Monroe County, there is a significant amount of active shooter training within the sheriff’s office and all of the surrounding police agencies

Monroe County Sheriff's Office SWAT Commander Lt. Josh DeRuyter viewed the footage.

"It was clear, at least to me, that their department had trained a lot for it...their officers had the right mindset and didn’t hesitate, and went in to mitigate and neutralize a threat immediately," he said.

The lieutenant conducts active shooter training for officers throughout the region. They get in-depth training to handle situations like Monday’s deadly shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School.

“It takes a significant amount of courage on those officers to go in there knowing that they very likely might not come back out based on the threat they’re faced with," said DeRuyter.

The footage shows a meticulous tactical operation taking place as officers conduct a no-hesitation room-to-room search seeking out the armed suspect.

“It did appear that they were working on well-trained tactics that they probably worked through significantly beforehand," said DeRuyter.

Are these the same type of tactics officers in your community would use during a potential active shooter incident?

“Specific tactics may vary from area to area in regard to how people operate," DeRuyter said. "I will say this, the general concepts are pretty unanimous across the board and different areas are in different areas of training…but I know the state in general tries to make it as uniform as possible so that everyone is on a similar standard.”

But the mission is always clear.

“Ultimately our job is to go in as quickly as we can, to locate, place pressure on the suspect and neutralize them, however that works out,” he said.

The body-worn camera footage and tactics used during the March 27 incident will be reviewed by law enforcement agencies in Monroe County, across New York state and the country for learning purposes.

“This one I’m sure will be very closely evaluated,” said DeRuyter. “It looks like, from what I can see, they did a very good job so we’ll take as many opportunities as we can to see what they did well and to take that information, and if it’s in line with what we do, great, and if there are things we need to change then we’ll make those changes to make sure we’re as successful as we can be. And if there are things they could have done better, which most organizations are very honest about that at the end of the day, so that they can learn and we can learn from that, then we’ll take those as well.”

He also says standards across New York are fairly similar in regard to tactical operations and there are annual and bi-annual meetings with SWAT commanders and tactical teams in an effort to stay on the same page.

In Monroe County, there is a significant amount of active shooter training within the sheriff’s office and all of the surrounding police agencies.