The Blue Guns, Sheriff's Posse trains in school scenarios

Sheriff's armed Posse members enter a school during a training exercise.

      Men in uniform enter a hallway, weapons drawn as children rush toward them.

The Blue Guns: Possemen approach a "shooter" in front of the school. 

      "He's got a gun, he's got a gun," they shout in a terrified voice at the men as they rush past toward daylight.

      The two uniformed men pause at the intersection of hallways just as two more children rush at them followed by a man in a t-shirt, with his hands up in surrender.

      "Get down, get down" they shout as they move closer to the man who doesn't immediately comply. They force him to his knees and then face down and handcuff him as another man moves toward them in the dim hallway.

      "Don't shoot, don't shoot, I'm the principal, don't shoot." Not sure if it's true, they repeat the handcuffing exercise on the second man."he's in there, along, he's got a gun!"

Posseman checks "shooter" after a take-down.

      The two move toward the door, checking the rooms before the room indicated, to be sure no other threat is lurking.

      As they disappear into the room, "clack, clack, clack," the sound of training weapons shooting in rapid succession, neutralizing the attacking "gunman."

"End of Excercise!"  a supervisor calls down the hallway.

Actor Seagal observes training exercise.

      The children and gunmen are actors,  the men in uniform, members of the Maricopa County armed Sheriff's Posse. The weapons are designed for training, firing various forms of non-lethal projectiles.

      They return to the hallway intersection to meet up with Posse instructor and actor Steven Seagal and two other trainers in police tactics for critique.

     Although critics suggest that the exercise is another publicity stunt by the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the training is nonetheless real and, according to deputies involved in the training, nothing new.  Police have been training for such scenarios since the Columbine attack in 1999.

"Students" rush from the building as Possemen prepare to deal with the threat.

Arresting a surrendering suspect as principal exits classroom down hall.

      Perhaps inviting Seagal to join the Posse last year was designed to gain more notoriety for Arpaio, well-known for seeking publicity throughout his tenure.

      But while that may draw the extra publicity, perhaps the training session actually serves two purposes, as Seagal  has  experience to provide training and to render important critiques to those who might one day be faced with the real thing.

One of four scenarios, a "shooter"
takes over a cafeteria.

     "Don't get into a shouting match, if they don't comply right away, make them comply," he instructs after a scenario is run.

      "You took too long to get down the hallway, you have to move faster," he instructs another team.
     
      For a photojournalist, it doesn't matter.  Under the pall of school shootings and other violence that has risen to the top of the news of late, it was valuable to cover. It helps address an important question, how are police reacting across the country? How are people reacting in general?

      As a photojournalist I want to be able to see and cover at least some of the important stories. The access was quite good, presenting opportunities to document Posse handling of three scenarios.

      The school presented numerous challenging situations, poorly lit hallways, with rapidly unfolding activity, but with numerous Posse members in training, the repetition of various scenarios, rate of successful and strong images improves.

Possemen enter cafeteria to try and stop "active shooter"  as "students flee"

      It's a photography lesson as well as anything, be patient, do not get discouraged, pay attention, make adjustments to improve even when you think you have it, keep trying. 

      The fact that the Sheriff likes publicity simply plays into my Master Plan, gain good access to such things, when possible, in order to make good pictures that tell a piece of the story.

The whole set of Photographs are available via Corbis Images.

Seagal critiques a sheriff's posseman on his handling of situation.