Southern Colorado town prepares community for active shooter situations

More than 100 people gathered in Woodland Park Tuesday to learn what to do in an active shooter situation.

Woodland Park police taught different techniques using the ALICE method, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.

“It’s a change in our times,” Woodland Park Police Chief Miles DeYoung said. “This is something that’s very prevalent in the media, and so we are reacting and trying to make folks safer out there.”

Police said traditionally, people were taught to lock the door, turn off the lights and hide during an active shooter situation. They said they have learned a lot in the tragedies that have taken place around the country. Now, they teach people to take a more active approach.

“Grab cans, bats, chairs, tables, barricade the door,” Officer Ryan Koski said. “We want to make them a hard target, not a soft target, as they have been in the past.”

School resource officer John Bartlett attended the training to learn of better ways to protect the students.

“The price is too high for us not to be ready,” he said.