When shots were fired Tuesday morning at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Ore., police in Clark County dropped what they were doing and responded to the incident.
In total, 12 Clark County sheriff's deputies, eight Vancouver police officers and six Camas police officers helped out.
"It's those initial phases in a situation, like an active shooter, where you really want to get an adequate number of resources on scene so you can contain the situation," said Clark County Sheriff's Sgt. Fred Neiman.
Members of the regional SWAT team sent an armored vehicle and helped sweep the school Tuesday morning. Officers directed traffic and transported students from the high school to the Wood Village Fred Meyer, where they were reunited with family members.
Through mutual aid agreements, regional law enforcement agencies help each other out during major emergencies. Mutual aid calls are fairly routine within the county, Neiman said. Going outside the county, and into Oregon, isn't nearly as common, but it can happen. In 2007, a Gresham-Multnomah County SWAT team actually made the arrest after a 20-hour standoff at a Vancouver home with an armed, barricaded criminal who shot a police officer and another man.
"An active shooter is one of those calls that elicits immediate response from local law enforcement and a concentrated response from regional law enforcement," Neiman said.
Every on-duty Camas patrol officer was sent to Oregon, along with detectives, said Camas police Sgt. Scot Boyles. "They weren't given a particular duty," he said, adding that they returned relatively soon.
In their absence, Boyles, School Resource Officer Tim Fellows, Chief Mitch Lackey and Capt. Shyla Nelson made themselves available to take urgent calls anywhere in the county. Two officers who work a 10 a.m. shift started patrol duties early, and the Washougal Police Department also offered to take calls outside its patrol area. While police were gone, there weren't any major emergencies in Clark County.
Once Reynolds High School was secured, Clark County police returned to their regular duties. Those who were directing traffic couldn't be relieved right away, but everyone was back by the afternoon.
-- Patty Hastings