There have been nearly 50 school shootings this year, including one 100 miles north at Delta State University. Earlier this month, there was a lockdown at Warren Central High School where an officer thought there may have been an active shooter.

Hinds Community College District Emergency Management Coordinator Joey Jamison said although there hasn’t been a shooting at the college yet, everyone needs to be prepared because it’s impossible to predict when an active shooter situation could occur.

Jamison said the college did implement the lockout a few weeks ago when Warren Central High School was placed on lockdown.

“They had the doors locked and key personnel at certain hallway intersections watching hallways and things like that,” he said. “They did an excellent job with that.”

Jamison said he is in the process of providing the training at all six of the Hinds Community College campuses.

Three sessions were provided at the Vicksburg-Warren Campus Thursday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

“Before the incident at Mississippi State happened, we identified that we needed student involvement because our student dynamic is different,” he said. “We’ve got traditional, right out of high school students, but we actually have a lot of nontraditional students as well.”

Jamison said students fresh out of high school are generally prepared for emergency situation from the drills they had in high school, but due to heightened dangers, it’s important to make sure everyone is prepared for whatever threat may happen.

“After Mississippi State happened, the ball got rolling. Then after Delta State (shooting), it really sped up,” he said. “We identified that we needed to have something that was open to everybody.”

Jamison said no part of the emergency strategy is a secret or hidden in any way.

“You can go out and find all of this on the web or Youtube all of it,” he said. “But we knew we needed to involved in this. It’s not if it’s going to happen, it’s when, so we want to be prepared as best we can at the college.”

Hinds Community College Vicksburg-Warren Campus Dean Marvin Moak said keeping students safe is the top priority.

“If you educate for a situation, you can be prepared for a situation,” he said. “Like Mr. Jamison said, it’s extremely important that our students know what to do and our faculty know what to do.”

Moak said it’s reassuring to know that if something were to happen, there is a plan in place.