Erika McGuire
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Despite the growing number of school shootings in the United States, many Missouri school districts and law enforcement agencies lack standardized requirements for active shooter drills.
In Missouri, teachers are required to participate in simulated active-shooter drills under the state’s ASIRT statute. However, broader safety training, such as how to identify threats or respond to intruders, is optional and left up to individual districts.
A new law signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe will change that, with students and teachers being required to participate in active school shooter drills starting in the 2026-27 school year. The law went into effect in August.
To better understand how local districts are preparing for potential threats, ABC 17 News requested active shooter drill records from 10 Mid-Missouri school districts: Columbia Public Schools, Southern Boone, Moberly, Hallsville, Jefferson City, Cole County R-V in Eugene, Camdenton, North Callaway, South Callaway and Fulton.
ABC 17 News did not hear back from the Fulton, South Callaway, North Callaway and Camdenton school districts.
Records revealed some inconsistent practices when it comes to active shooter drills. While some districts conducted two drills in a school year, others reported conducting one, with at least one district not conducting any drills at all.
Columbia Public Schools provided records for all of its 33 buildings for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. According to records, at least two A.L.I.C.E. drills, which simulate active shooter situations, were conducted at each of the 33 buildings.
John McDonald, chief operating officer for the Missouri School Boards’ Association Center for Education Safety, says multiple drills need to be done each year.
“If you don’t do another drill for a year, you often lose information, you often lose the learning, you often forget some of the things perishable skill sets are important to maintain,” McDonald said.
“My recommendation is that one in the fall semester, very early on, one in the spring semester, then that’s all you should have to do,” McDonald said. “Kids remember the drill, teachers remember the drill. Good learning occurs with good drills, and the parents find comfort in knowing that their students have gone through training and are prepared.”
West Middle School, for the 2023-24 school year, conducted three drills within nearly two months of the start of the school year.
The Southern Boone School District requires one active shooter drill to be conducted at each school per academic year. According to district records, during the 2023–24 school year, two active shooter drills each were conducted at the high school, middle school and elementary school. In the 2024–25 school year, one drill was conducted at both the high school and middle school, while two drills were conducted at the elementary school.
The Cole County R-5 School District does not conduct active school shooter drills with its students, Superintendent Charley Burch said.
“At this time, we do not conduct active shooter drills with students. However, our administration does review safety and security procedures with them, including expectations for entering and exiting the building,” Burch said in an email to ABC 17 News in September.
Burch said the district is considering implementing student drills, either later this school year or at the start of the next, when such drills will become mandatory under a new state law.
Records from the Moberly School District show active shooter drills were conducted at least twice a year at each of the district’s eight buildings from 2023 to early 2025.
The Jefferson City School District reported 183 lockdown/intruder drills in the 2023-24 school year, 189 in the 2024-25 school year and 17 so far this school year. The number of drills for each building within the district was not provided.
One active shooter drill was conducted each school year over the past two years in the Hallsville R-IV School District, according to records.
For a drill to qualify as “successful”, McDonald says there are several factors.
“Have those kids move into the proper positions, the proper placement, teachers moving with the students, making good decisions at that moment in time, that’s a great drill,” McDonald said. “Every school, from 50 kids to 2,000 kid,s should be able to lock down in less than 30 seconds. What that means is behind a properly locked classroom door, any barricaded door in a school environment or out of the building.”
During a drill, students turn off the lights, lock doors, move out of sight and stay silent. McDonald said drills should be conducted on a consistent basis, but should not be excessive.
“We train enough to make it meaningful, but we don’t overtrain to the point that kids find it boring and routine. If you don’t do another drill for a year, you often lose the information, you often lose the learning, you often forget some of the things perishable skill sets are important to maintain,” McDonald said.
Requirements in other states
In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting in Texas that left 19 students dead in 2022, ProbPublica found that most states require active shooter drills for school districts. Thirteen states do not, including Colorado and Connecticut, which have had the two deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
The Columbine High School mass shooting in Colorado in 1999 left 13 people dead. In Connecticut, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting claimed the lives of 26 people in 2012.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has an anonymous hotline to report school violence and threats. Tips can be submitted through the app, by phone, online or by text message.
Records obtained by ABC 17 News show that the hotline, Courage2Report, received 927 tips between Jan. 1-July 3 this year. Of those, 106 involved bullying or repeated harassment, 94 were threats to kill, 65 were school shooting threats, 58 were reports of physical assault and 33 involved alcohol or drugs.
Missouri school violence reports
by Matthew Sanders
Data underscores the urgency to prepare: As of Sept. 23, CNN reported 53 school shootings in the U.S. — 27 on college campuses and 26 on K–12 grounds — leaving 19 people dead and at least 84 injured. Last year was the deadliest since 2008, with 83 shootings reported.
Law enforcement requirements
Missouri does not mandate a specific number of active-shooter drills or training hours annually for law enforcement agencies. Most agencies voluntarily participate in drills at least once a year.
ProPublica’s report found that only Texas and Michigan have laws that require all officers to complete active shooter training after the police academy.
Last year, Texas mandated that all officers, not just school police, take 16 hours of active shooter training every two years, according to ProPublica.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol, however, has prioritized this form of training for several years. Lt. Eric Brown said state troopers are required to complete four hours of active-shooter training, annually. That requirement will double to eight hours starting next year.
Brown emphasized the importance of the training.
“Being trained, prepared to respond to an active threat is important, it’s a priority for law enforcement, first responders to be trained,” Brown said. “So when an unfortunate … event occurs, we can respond appropriately and have all the needed resources there to deal with the situation as quickly and safely as possible.”
When participating in active-shooter training, agencies focus on classroom instruction and scenario-based exercises. Officers learn tactical procedures, response protocols and how to anticipate the challenges of real-world situations.
Scenarios simulate active threats in various environments, including schools, businesses, churches, school buses and other public spaces.
The Cole County Sheriff’s Office conducts active-shooter training drills at least once a year.
Sheriff John Wheeler said his office likely conducts more training than most agencies. The department participated in three drills in August at Perry Hall at Lincoln University. Wheeler said the overall goal in training is to get as close to reality as possible.
“This has been a requirement since I’ve been here, so for the eight years that I’ve been sheriff and for the 12 years I was chief deputy. Before that, we’ve been doing active shooter training,” Wheeler said.
“Human nature is that you run from fire, you run from gunshots, and we train our people to go to that,” Wheeler said. “We train them to protect civilians, protect someone, strangers they don’t even know, so we try to make this training as realistic as possible when you’re going through it.”
The sound of fake gunshots is important, said Cpl. Joey Matherne with the Cole County Sheriff’s Office.
“That’s not something that you hear day in and day out, and you hear people explain active shooter situations that have been in them, and what they perceived that sound to be, so to hear it is a good takeaway for us to kind of give you an idea of what to expect if you ever are in that situation,” Matherne said.
While law enforcement agencies prioritize realistic training, the drills require a significant amount of time, coordination and resources.
Cost is also a key factor; training often pulls officers off the streets and can require specialized equipment, overtime pay and logistical planning.
“The simulation guns are expensive. They cost about the same as a regular pistol,” said Charlie Greatsinger, training officer at the Cole County Sheriff’s Office. “The ammunition is more expensive than real training ammunition.”
Those costs runs several thousand dollars, including $12,000 for simulation guns and rounds, Greatsinger said.
Funding often falls on local agencies, and not every community is equipped to support it.
“How much money will a community spend to train their officers? Everybody says they need training. How much? Who’s paying for it?” Greatsinger said. “Because the sheriff does a lot with a very small budget. When you consider what goes on there, we have the support of our community here; it’s good. It’s way better than some places.”
Even as both schools and law enforcement agencies conduct active shooter training separately, there is no statewide requirement in Missouri for the two to train together. Without collaboration, critical gaps in timing, communication and coordination can persist, leaving holes that could mean the difference between life and death in a real emergency.
“Not everything can be legislated. But I think what we can do is we can say what’s the best practice and here’s a reasonable standard of care for our community,” McDonald said. “It’s important for law enforcement and schools to come together. They cannot be siloed. Those relationships are so important for the life, safety of the people in our schools.”
The Columbia Police Department also participates in yearly training.
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