Active shooter training is being offered free of charge to the Mathews community by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Two sessions will be taught on Friday, Feb. 25, at Mathews Volunteer Fire Department Station 1. Registration is required. Residents may sign up for either the morning or afternoon session.

The course was arranged by Mathews County at the request of the board of supervisors, who sought the training for themselves but wanted to make it available to residents, as well.

According to information provided by Judi Green, deputy clerk to the board, the course, titled Civilian Response and Casualty Care, “provides a coordinated effort through a ‘whole community approach’ to establish stakeholders within the community.”

Through the training offered, residents are taught to be “Immediate Responders” who do “what they can, where they are, with what they have to work with” until First Responders arrive, said the release.

The course uses the basics...