Written by Tanya Terry
More than 611 mass shootings occurred in America last year, as pointed out by Mayor Sheldon Neeley. He added there were more than 510 mass shootings this year and more than 288 school shootings occurred last year.
As a result, a partnership within the city of Flint is intended to focus on the need to be proactive.
A recent press conference covered Flint Police Department active shooter trainings with local organizations and grant funding for public safety programs.
According to Neeley, area churches and the Flint Community Schools will take part in these trainings.
“We have heard the announcement from the federal government; $1.5 million has been delivered to Flint as it was scheduled to be delivered to Flint for crime suppression here,” Neeley said.
“Our crime rate is down more than 40%,” he added. “Homicide rates are down about 50% inside the city through our proactive actions. And now we want to make sure we are continuing on that path to be proactive in active shooter training.”
Neeley said there is a need to protect those who are most vulnerable in the Flint community, whether in senior citizen homes, restaurants, churches or schools.
Neeley and Flint Detective Sgt. Tyrone Booth said local and schools have asked for the training.
“This is a very needed project and program,” Booth said. “We want to protect those who in many cases can’t protect themselves. We want students to feel safe going to school and not have to worry about the possibility of an incident like we’ve seen across the country.
“We have highly trained police staff that will be conducting this training, who are well trained in this particular field, and who are prepared to educate even the educators in buildings on how to respond should an incident like this happen.
“We want to make sure that those who are attending churches throughout this community feel safe doing that and know that there is a level of training that’s going out to staff at churches throughout the city to make sure that they understand the need and what to do in a situation like this.”
Booth expressed he hoped students and church goers would not need to use the tactics they will soon be taught.
“But if so the need comes, we want them to be prepared and understand exactly what is necessary.”
Booth explained the training would be customized based on the individual buildings in which they are held, the building’s entry points and the needs of the facilities.
Booth stated the training will be modeled after ALICE training or be identical to ALICE training , which the trainers who will provide the local active shooter training have had.
“We’re also doing our own. We’re going to be designing a program specific to Flint and the needs of this community and the issues we have here.”
The training will be made available primarily to the Flint Public Schools, the largest school district in the city.
It will be offered at no cost to public entities that receive people for free.
Bishop Christopher Martin expressed that he is looking forward to implementing the training at Cathedral of Faith Church. In addition, Rev. Dr. Daniel E. Moore of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and Pastor Phillip Thompson of Bethlehem Temple also attended the press conference in anticipation of the training. All three churches are located on the north side of Flint.
The press conference took place October 5 at the Northside Police Mini-Station, 4535 Martin Luther King Ave.
According to Neeley, the investment in the training will be ongoing. The project will be funded by a combination of multiple funds, including the federal funds, depending on what entity is receiving the training. The plan is to expand the training currently being offered in higher learning institutions, as well.
The city of Flint has been under a gun violence emergency since July of 2021.
