Rock Hill Police to focus on ‘critical incidents’ at church seminar

First Baptist Church Rock Hill and the Rock Hill Police Department will team up Thursday for a training seminar to better prepare church leaders for critical incidents like the one that unfolded at a Charleston church in June.

The seminar is not open to the general public, but leaders of York County churches are encouraged to attend. The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, and there is no cost.

Church administrator Terri Hood said she got the idea for the seminar in the aftermath of the June shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, where nine parishioners were killed during a Bible study, allegedly at the hands of a white supremacist.

“It will be focused on how to prepare your congregation for active-shooter situations,” she said of Thursday’s event. “We’re encouraging the churches to take a proactive stance and say, ‘We need to do something.’”

Before the seminar, vendors will be on hand to talk with church leaders about insurance and assessments to help churches evaluate their “weak spots,” according to Hood. She has been attending national conferences for church administrators for 19 years, and said security has been a top concern from other churches since the Charleston shooting.

“A lot of the smaller churches in the area will call me from time to time and say, ‘Hey, what do you do on this’ or ‘What are your resources,’” she said. “I felt like this was one of those times I saw it was a need a lot of churches were having.”

This is the first such training held locally, according to Capt. Brent Allmon, a Rock Hill Police spokesman.

“With the heightened awareness and the issues we’re facing right now, it gives people a little more training and makes them better prepared,” he said. “It provides them a little situational awareness that, I think, we all need in our everyday lives.”

Allmon said the seminar doesn’t just teach leaders how to respond to an active shooter, but rather any “critical incident.”

“Anything that may come up,” he said. “They may need to respond or take action. It’s not necessarily geared to shootings, but any kind of critical incidents in a church.”

Those wishing to attend Thursday’s seminar can sign up by visiting www.fbcrockhill.org and clicking on the “Events” tab.

To request Rock Hill Police to speak at your church or organization, call 803-329-7200 and ask to speak with Lt. Tim Ayers of community services.

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Rock Hill Police to focus on ‘critical incidents’ at church seminar."