Sheriff’s Office and New Orleans police help facilitate National Guard at Jackson Barracks train to react to an active shooter on base

From left, New Orleans Police Sgt. Sherman Joseph, Capt. Jimmy Scott, head of the NOPD SWAT team; St. Bernard Sheriff;’s Office Maj. Mark Poche, head of the Special Operations Division; and Lt. Col. Kenneth Copple, deputy base commander, discuss the active shooter drill at Jackson Barracks.

Lt. Raymond Theriot, deputy director of training for the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office, helps Guardsmen with weapons safety checks for the active shooter simulation drill.

If an active shooter situation took place on the National Guard base at Jackson Barracks, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office and New Orleans Police would both be responding as the nearest police agencies.

So, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, both agencies helped facilitate training by Guardsmen for such a possible situation.

The men and women of the base – which is on the boundary of New Orleans and St. Bernard – practiced making entry into a building under simulated attack by armed intruders and taking necessary action.

Sheriff James Pohlmann wanted the Sheriff’s Office to be part of such training in case an active shooter situation did occur at the base, said Maj. Mark Poche, who heads the department’s Special Operations Division. Poche was on the base for the session, along with Lt. Raymond Theriot, deputy director of training for the Sheriff’s Office.

“They (the National Guard base) are a neighbor and we want to have a working relationship with them,’’ Poche said.

Because the base is so close to St. Bernard, the Sheriff’s Office would definitely respond to any active shooter situation that happened there, he said, so it is important the department be involved in training for such a possibility. “You have to make sure you are on the same page,’’ Poche said.

New Orleans police also took part in the drill at Jackson Barracks, represented by Capt. Jimmy Scott, head of the NOPD SWAT team, along with other police officers.

Sheriff’s deputies have been involved recently in several active shooter drills in St. Bernard, simulating responding to intruders in schools or other public buildings, under the direction of Maj. David DiMaggio, training director for the Sheriff’s Office.

The SWAT team has also trained in school buildings and public buildings including the parish Courthouse.

Sheriff Pohlmann has stressed that while hoping an active shooter situation doesn’t occur it is necessary to be prepared for worst case situations.