David Copenhaver, a Board of Works member who also serves as the city attorney, suggested New Castle Police Department employees also receive any training needed with respect to recognizing and dealing with ambush-type situations.

The mayor also stated that the city’s S.W.A.T. team needs to be as well trained and equipped as possible and that he intends to make sure they are.

Additionally, York pointed out that the city’s EMS personnel sometimes find themselves in hostile and potentially dangerous situations and said methods for maximizing their safety will be investigated.

“I don’t want to be an ostrich and stick our head in the sand and think that it’s never going to happen close by to us,” the mayor said.

New Castle Police Chief Brad Catron said his officers have most of the law enforcement tools they need to effectively do their jobs, but conceded there is room for improvement.

“We have a lot of that stuff right now, but we are short of some things,” he said. “Right now, we’re just updating and making sure everybody has something of that nature.”

Catron said his officers train for nearly every imaginable situation on a regular basis and that will continue, adding that he is pleased with the relationship between the local police department and the citizens of New Castle.

“As far as the community goes, I think we have a great relationship,” Catron said. “We work well with our community and we basically don’t have those kinds of problems here right now. Other towns and cities are experiencing [violence against officers], but it’s usually not the local people, it’s people coming into those communities and causing problems. We’ve had many positive comments from the community about the job we do and we appreciate them very much.”

Henry County Sheriff Ric McCorkle said his deputies are well equipped to handle a wide variety of situations.

“All of my officers have body armor and they are required to wear it. As far as firearms, all of the offices are qualified with their AR15s and all of our vehicles are equipped with the AR15 and some also have the 12 gauge Remington 700s,” McCorkle said.

The sheriff said his officers will soon be undergoing advanced training on how to avoid an ambush-type situation.

“We’re working on it, but you’re never completely prepared. We get a call and we’re going to show up. I guess somebody could ambush us at that point, but we’re going to stay positive. We’re going to continue to protect and serve to the best of our ability.”

McCorkle said he and other local law enforcement officials mourn the loss of officers every time one is killed, but added that they have a job to do and are committed to doing it.

He also agreed with Chief Catron with respect to the relationship between the HCSD and the citizens of Henry County.

“We have a lot of good people here,” he said. “The numbers haven’t changed a lot over the years. We still deal with around 3 to 5 percent of the population as far as the bad guys go, but we get a lot of good, solid support from the people who live here. We’re just going to continue to do what we do and try to be prepared tactically.”

The sheriff also advocated establishment of a sound national mental health treatment program as opposed to gun control to help address many of the ongoing issues taking place at both the local and national level.

“In my opinion, nationwide we have to address the mental health problem and then we have to make sure the communication between the law enforcement community and the citizens we serve stays positive and open,” McCorkle said.