LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- More than 30 home daycare providers came together Saturday at the Bear Valley Church to learn about what to do in an active shooter situation.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office teamed up with the Colorado Association of Family Child Care (CAFCC) to host the event.
“It’s done in schools, it’s done everywhere else and so we just wanted to get home providers more information about things that could happen outside the house,” said Amber Bilby, the president of CAFCC.
Bilby said she was surprised by the turnout; normally CAFCC training sessions bring in between 10 and 15 people. However, more than twice that showed up to this training event.
“We do fire drills, we do all kinds of other drills, but this is eye-opening in the aspect of... this is something that could happen while we’re on a field trip or while we are taking the kids somewhere and we don’t know what we should be doing,” Bilby said.
For home daycare provider and CAFCC vice president Stacey Buzbee, the kids in her care are like family, and she wants to be prepared to think fast to keep them safe.
“They are my family, I am their second mother,” Buzbee said. “You’re in love with that child and your day is better because the child is there.”
Buzbee has done some online active shooter training in the past, but says having a chance to interact with law enforcement officers and ask questions is important.
“It’s about saving lives,” she said.
During the training session Saturday, deputies talked about previous active shooter situations and lessons they learned from it. They talked about escaping, fighting back, hiding, barricading doors, vulnerable areas in buildings, the most important information to tell 911 dispatchers and more.
From now on, Bilby said she’ll be paying closer attention to her surroundings thanks to the training session.
“With the recent events in the area, it kind of opened up their eyes to, ‘Oh, I’m not as prepared as I thought for something like this to happen,’” she said.
This was the first time the CAFCC has hosted an active shooter training but said it has been trying to organize this for years.