Montgomery County files resolution requesting $15.5M from state for active shooter training facility

The Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved a resolution seeking $15.5 million from the Texas Legislature to fund an active shooter training facility.

Montgomery County Commissioners Court is seeking to formally acquire the former Keefer Crossing Middle School in New Caney and recondition it to support a permanent active shooter training facility which can be used by agencies across the state.

“The Appropriations Committee has already had conversations about this, and they are in the process of building the [state] budget now,” said Jason Millsaps, executive director of the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “The senators that represent the county and the legislators from the House asked for this resolution so they can stick it in the committee file to show the interest, and that the county is unified in its request.”

The facility has been rented by Montgomery County since Oct. 1 and operated jointly by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. According to the resolution, roughly 1,200 first responders have completed the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, or ALERRT, at the facility, which is performed by certified instructors.

“One of the nice things about this is if you come to the class, mixing the officers in from other jurisdictions is exactly how they’ll be during a response to an active shooter. They’re not all going to be from the same agencies,” said Millsaps.

Montgomery County will assume the long-term cost of the facility, which Millsaps estimated to be around $2 million a year, and there will be no charge to first responder agencies who wish to use the facility in the future, according to information at the meeting.

Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson said he supported the continued use and improvement of the facility.

“This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity, a one-of-a-kind facility," Henderson said at the meeting.