Most years, Bend Police Department training officers conduct roughly a half-dozen active threat training sessions throughout the city, helping businesses, schools and other groups assess and prepare themselves for emergencies like a shooting.

But this year is different. Requests for these sessions have increased. Since June, the department has conducted 12 training sessions, half of which have occurred since Aug. 28, when a gunman fatally shot two people and killed himself in the east Bend Safeway. And more sessions are scheduled through the end of the year.

The influx underscores how local organizations are trying to prepare for emergencies that once seemed unimaginable in this community.

“Since Safeway, there’s an obvious element of fear, paranoia, which is to be expected and I fully understand that,” said Bend Police Sgt. Todd Guthrie, who is part of the department’s training division and leads the active threat training sessions. “There’s more emotion in these things now since then. Prior to (Safeway), it was a hypothetical. Now, it’s a very real threat.” In the three years Guthrie has conducted these sessions, large organizations have typically been the ones to request site assessments and help with their safety plans. Now, a wide variety of organizations are seeking training, he said.

Schools, churches, retail corporations, real estate companies, a rehabilitation center and more have requested the training. (The Bulletin also took part in an active threat training session with Bend police on Sept. 28.)

“Hopefully it won’t ever happen and we won’t have to worry about it,” said Christi Haynes, owner relations manager of Brooks Resources Corporation, a regional real estate developer that has a session scheduled in December. “But it’s good to always be prepared.”

The sessions involve a police assessment of various facilities and procedures. Discussions go over the facility’s best exits, places to hide and ways to fight back. Police tell people when they should call 911, which is essentially any time a person is concerned about something or someone out of the ordinary.

Police encourage people in the session to think over what they would do should the unthinkable happen, preparing them to fall back on their mental training when violence erupts.

Participants said that they were glad to take the step toward making their workplaces safer, adding that the Safeway shooting was a reminder that these tragedies can occur anywhere.

“When it happens in your community, you realize how vulnerable you are,” said Sam Adams, head of Seven Peaks School, a Bend private school. It scheduled a session with police over the summer and had that session the morning after the Safeway shooting.

Adams said that the session was “real,” “intense” and “powerful.” He said it showed how staff need to think of creative ways to navigate emergency situations before they happen.

“Every teacher has a responsibility in their classroom to do everything they can to keep their kids safe,” Adams said, adding: “I think that really hit home.”

But, while making improvements to school security, staff have to navigate the challenge of remaining open and welcoming to community members, he said.

“Do you let the violence out there control you?” he said. “You try and find a balance.”

Robin Shire, regional vice president of Regency Pacific Management, which provides housing and other services for seniors, said the training was especially important given the management company’s vulnerable population. He said the Safeway shooting occurred about four blocks from one of the company’s facilities.

“It really opens your eyes that it really can happen anywhere,” Shire said, adding that the company’s facilities typically have between 30 to 60 residents.

Shire said he was glad to hear that more local organizations are seeking safety help after the shooting, but added: “It’s horrible that a tragedy like that got us here.”

Guthrie echoed Shire’s sentiment.

“I hate to see that it takes something like this for people to realize, Oh, this can happen,” said Guthrie. “But as a trainer, I’m always happy when I see people who say, Please, we want some training … The best we can do is try to prepare our minds around what could happen.”