STATE News:

SANTA FE – Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Bernalillo, introduced Senate Bill 282 Monday, which calls for an appropriation of $50,000 to the Bernalillo County Fire Department (BCFD) to provide an active shooter response program.

“Active shooter training will help save the lives of both our public safety professionals and citizens that find themselves in dangerous situations,” Padilla said. “The primary objective of this legislation is to provide training to help first responders get to injured citizens quickly and safely.”

According to President Diego Arencón of the Albuquerque Area International Firefighters Union Local 244, funds would go towards 230 personnel for 1,840 hours of overtime in training. BCFD will have two pilot small scale trainings followed by weekly trainings with full-time field deputies.

The first training would occur March 1 of this year and continue weekly with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office until all personnel have completed the initial training process. A full scale incident scenario will then take place in July in each region of the county. The goal is to obtain three complete incidents before the beginning of 2015.

“This training is critical for today’s adverse societal demands. Sen. Padilla has shown great leadership and foresight in spearheading this public safety initiative,” Arencón said. “We implore all municipalities/counties to invest in active shooter training for their firefighters and paramedics.”