LITTLETON, Colo. — Eric Ebling – like all modern law officers – undergoes regular annual training in how to respond to an active shooter.
In reality, he’s preparing on his own every single day.
What if there was someone with a gun in that hallway? What would I do if trouble erupted in that classroom? If something happened right there – where would I send the kids?
The thoughts go through the head of the Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy every day as he walks the halls of the school whose very name is synonymous with mass shootings in America, Columbine High.
“From the day I started with Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, I had said my goal is someday to be a school resource officer,” Ebling said. “I never once put it in words to be Columbine – I just thought that was too big.
“So, when the opportunity came up in 2016 to transition from patrol to Columbine, I had to take it.”
It is, he told 9NEWS, a calling – and a job he loves.
“Speed of schools are only increasing,” Ebling said. “Long gone are the days of, hey we’ll call you on the radio if we need you; we'll send you an email later that day.”
Now his job is about being plugged in all the time – “being present in the hallways, the cafeteria, outside in the parking lots – having kids come in and just hang out with us in the office for 10 minutes in between things.”
It’s been 25 years since two students murdered a dozen classmates and a teacher, and wounded more than 20 others at Columbine. And in that time, what happened there has altered the way police officers are trained.
“As far as modern training for school resource officers, Columbine really becomes the foundation – the bedrock,” Ebling said.
Back then, an officer was expected to establish a perimeter, call for backup, and sit tight. Not so today.
“There is no waiting for additional resources,” he said. “There's no waiting for additional information. It's not reckless or careless running into a building blind – but it has changed that. “From day one in the academy, our new people coming into this profession have told me that if you're the closest one, this just became your scene.”
Ebling’s own history is intermingled with what happened at the school on April 20, 1999. Although he attended Cherry Creek High School, Ebling went to prom – and the after-prom party – three days before the attack on the school.
He’d also attended the homecoming dance later that year.
“And then I hadn't been back until starting back and working in this capacity at the school,” he said. “So, walking those halls, walking into the cafeteria that first time as an adult, through law enforcement eyes, it was very surreal.”
He goes to staff meetings – sometimes parent-teacher conferences. He talks to kids in the hallway. He monitors social media.
And he does all of it at perhaps the most well-known school in America.
“It would be an easier job at a different school somewhere else,” Ebling said. “But that to me would not be answering the calling.”
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