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According to a 2010 report from a New York State Task Force, incidents of police-on-police shootings occurred 26 times between 1981 and 2009. Even with a recent line-of-duty death in San Francisco in late January, such accidental violence remains thankfully rare. Law enforcement agencies provide training to prevent these deadly events, but human error and unusual circumstances can still lead to tragedy.

The FBI has helped to disrupt or prevent nearly 150 shootings and violent attacks this year, in part by steering potential gunmen toward mental health professionals.

"A chief of police has two important and sometimes conflicting responsibilities - his or her own officers and members of the community. He or she must, on one hand, be the leader of the police  and, at the same time, the chief of and for the community. It is in the use of deadly force that these responsibilities come into conflict. If the chief, in a questionable shooting, decides in favor of the officer, the chief must be able to demonstrate to the community and convince them that the shooting was both lawful, within the stated policy of the department, morally defensible, and consistent with training."--David Couper

Authorities evacuated hundreds of students in an orderly procession - a demonstration of aggressive security measures developed by police and schools following the chaotic 1999 shooting at Columbine, some 8 miles west of Arapahoe High. After that tragedy, police across the country developed "active shooter" training in which responding officers rush toward gunfire - and step over bodies and bleeding victims if necessary - to stop the gunman.

An active shooter incident, where someone with a gun is actively attempting to kill or harm people in a confined area, merits the swift action of law enforcement. Such an event is typically over in less than 15 minutes, which means immediate and effective measures must be taken to prevent deaths.

Firefighters and law-enforcement agencies in Riverside County are practicing or discussing new federal guidelines that, in order to save more lives, recommend sending armor-wearing medics into mass-casualty attacks before shooters or bombers are subdued. San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies and Rancho Cucamonga firefighters, meanwhile, are years ahead of the guidelines that the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued in September. The tactic is a departure from the common practice of making firefighters wait in safe areas for the all-clear from police before entering a scene to tend to the wounded. The impetus for change, said San Bernardino County sheriff's Lt. Danielle Boldt, began with the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado that killed 13 people.

Gary Sommers has over 40 years service in law enforcement first with the Prince George's Police Department and now with the Montgomery County Police Department both of which are in Maryland. It was while he was working on the Prince George's County SWAT Team in 1988 that Gary was involved in a Blue on Blue shooting that resulted in the death of his best friend and partner, Sgt. Mark Murphy.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 changed airport security forever. Many of the policies put in place in the aftermath of those terrorist attacks persist today. Agents from the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration, in particular, are tasked with following those directives to ensure safety at airports. However, a series of high-profile incidents-such as a November 2013 shooting of a TSA officer at a Los Angeles airport-raised concerns that airports lack sufficient manpower, training and resources to adequately prepare these personnel for that assignment.

Law enforcement agencies depend on new technology to help them ensure public safety. One such innovation is virtual firearms training, a practice facility that replaces traditional guns with digital ones. Several agencies across the U.S. are exploring use of virtual firearms training to save costs, increase efficiency and flexibility, and dramatically lower the risks to officers.