Horrific mass shooting incidents have been happening all over the country for too many years. It seems as if there have been even more lately.
A similar kind of tragedy hit home in an instant on Feb. 10 in Harford County. That's when a call for police to investigate a suspicious person in a Panera Bread restaurant in Abingdon turned into the slayings of two veteran Sheriff's Deputies.
No script, playbook or practice can prepare a law enforcement agency or a community for when a terrible moment like that comes. The Harford County Sheriff's Office leadership and its rank and file handled the terrible events of that day remarkably well. They handled the days after the killings equally well.
With that said, it never hurts to look around the country, or down the road, and ask "What if?"
That's what the Bel Air Police Department and the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company did and decided to try and prepare for a "what if" day, hoping they never face one.
Those two agencies held an active shooter drill Sunday morning at Bel Air Middle School. As reporter David Anderson wrote about the training exercise, the words "This is a Drill" were heard over and over throughout the incident.
There was also, however, plenty of realism for police and EMS personnel to confront and address.
From arriving on the scene and dealing with the first people rushing out of the building to dealing with the aftermath of such an ordeal, Bel Air's police, firefighters and EMS personnel had a taste of reality.
We couldn't agree more with Bel Air Police Chief Charles Moore, who made it clear how important such exercises are "because of the things that are going on around in the world, and actually locally – something like this could happen here."
There are so many active shooter incidents happening in our nation that only a fool would think one couldn't happen in the Harford County area.
"They're here and they're here to stay," Rich Gardiner, a spokesman for the county's volunteer fire service, said about shootings. "We've got to get ahead of the game."
Amen to that.
While, thankfully, it was only a drill, Bel Air and its emergency responders seem a little better prepared if something ever goes horribly wrong in one of the community's schools.
It's time for the rest of Harford County to follow Bel Air's lead and starting preparing for a "what if day" in their communities and schools.