Holder: Local Police Must Be Able To Handle Mass Shootings

Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during a news conference in New Orleans, Thursday, June 28, 2012. The Obama administration and House Republicans refused to find a middle ground in a dispute over documents related... Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during a news conference in New Orleans, Thursday, June 28, 2012. The Obama administration and House Republicans refused to find a middle ground in a dispute over documents related to a botched gun-tracking operation, and the GOP plunged ahead with plans for precedent-setting votes Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in civil and criminal contempt o Congress. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) MORE LESS
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder says local police must sometimes be the first law enforcement officers to fire back in mass shootings and must receive intense training and the best equipment to handle such events.

The attorney general says authorities don’t always have the luxury of time to get their most highly trained officers on the scene.

In remarks prepared for delivery to a law enforcement conference in Philadelphia, Holder says that in the past decade, the Justice Department has helped train 50,000 front-line officers and over 3,000 local, state and federal agency heads on how to respond to active shooters.

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