Q: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio teamed up with actor Steven Seagal to teach members of his armed volunteer "posse" how to handle potential school shootings. 
  
 The self-described "America's Toughest Sheriff" sparked controversy late last year after the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting when he said he would deploy the posse to monitor the perimeter of more than 50 Phoenix-area schools for suspicious activity. Members of the 3,450-strong group began patrolling in January, and the sheriff's office announced recently that the program will likely continue next year. 
  
 The simulated shooting took place on Saturday afternoon in a vacant school outside Phoenix. About 25 teenage volunteers acted the part of students while members of the posse practiced what to do if a shooter or multiple shooters entered school premises. 
  
 The training was designed to teach posse members how to handle multiple-shooter situations, room-entry tactics and hand-to-hand combat. Posse members practiced using semi-automatic rifles and handguns called simunitions, which use marking rounds rather than bullets. 
  
 "I want everybody to know that we're going to be around those schools, that if you do something we will be armed, and we're going into the schools to save our kids," Arpaio told reporters on Saturday, pounding a podium to emphasize each point. 
  
 While the volunteers are assigned to monitor around the perimeter of schools, a spokeswoman for Arpaio said that if an emergency arose, the posse would be permitted to enter school grounds. 
  
 However, as ABC/Univision previously noted, according to a local CBS affiliate, some of Arpaio's posse members have criminal records. 
  
 Their investigation "uncovered a number of posse members with arrests for assault, drug possession, domestic violence, sex crimes against children, disorderly conduct, impersonating an officer - and the list goes on." 
  
 Seagal, a friend of the sheriff's, led the training along with members of the sheriff's SWAT team. 
  
 According to a statement from the sheriff's office, "While his qualified armed posse volunteers are already well trained to handle emergency situations, Arpao says that school shootings pose unique circumstances which require more mission specific training modalities." 
  
 Not everyone agrees however. Members of Respect Arizona Recall Arpaio, a group that opposes the sheriff's actions, carried signs and protested outside of the school on Saturday. They told Univision the training was politically motivated and designed to garner attention. They said the fact that an actor was leading a training for such a serious topic was absurd. 
  
 But Seagal told reporters on Saturday that he was qualified for the job. He already volunteers as part of Arpaio's posse, and he has been deputized with sheriff's offices in three other states. The star of Under Siege and Above the Law also filmed a reality show, Steven Segal: Lawman, where he served as a reserve deputy in Louisiana. 
  
 "I've put hundreds of thousands if not millions of hours into my weapons training," the actor told reporters on Saturday. 
  
 Seagal added that he would do anything to protect students. 
  
 "They are our most precious asset," he said. "They are our treasures and we have to protect them." 
  
 Sheriff Arpaio, who has also come under fire for his hardline stance on immigration, told ABC/Univision in December that it did not matter whether schools wanted armed posse members patrolling outside. 
  
 "It doesn't matter whether they like it or don't," he said. "I'm still going to do it. I can't imagine criticism coming when they're given free protection." ||||| Hollywood action star Steven Seagal has a few choice words for critics of his latest role. 
  
 On Saturday, the actor and martial arts expert guided members of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's volunteer posse through a simulated school shooting. Members of the volunteer posse, some of them armed, began patrolling areas surrounding schools in Arizona's most populous county, Maricopa, which includes Phoenix, in January. 
  
 Seagal's involvement was called a "mockery" by an Arizona state legislator, while a group of protesters also voiced their concern over Arpaio's school posse protection plan. 
  
 "Anybody who has criticized me or the sheriff for standing up to help the children, in my opinion, is an embarrassment to the human race," Seagal told reporters on Saturday. 
  
 Two dozen high school students volunteered to participate in the simulation Saturday, while SWAT deputies posed as the shooters. 
  
 In one scenario, which was allowed to be filmed, students hid under cafeteria tables while under siege by a gunman, who was then taken down by volunteer posse members. 
  
 "I want everybody to know that we are going to be around those schools and if you do something, we will be armed and we are going into the schools to save our kids," Arpaio said on Saturday. 
  
 Sheriff Joe's Top Publicity Stunts: From Pink Underwear to Glen Campbell 
  
 The volunteer posse, which is nearly 3,500 members strong, has been used to patrol shopping malls during the holiday season, scope out undocumented immigrants, and investigate President Obama's birth certificate. 
  
 Seagal occasionally worked as a deputy for the Jefferson Parish sheriff in Louisiana and had a reality show "Steven Seagal: Lawman." 
  
 Arpaio, the self-styled "America's Toughest Sheriff," began sending armed posse members to patrol schools in January, following the Newtown, Conn., elementary school massacre and a more local threat that resulted in the Dec. 20 arrest of a 16-year-old student at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Ariz., for a plot to bomb the school and shoot the students and faculty. 
  
 "We're not going to wait for all the politicians," Arpaio said. "Talk, talk, talk." |||||
A:
When "America's Toughest Sheriff" needs someone to train his "posse," who does he turn to? Steven Seagal, apparently. The aging action star was in Maricopa County over the weekend to train Sheriff Joe Arpaio's armed volunteers on how to handle a school shooting. Arpaio already has these posses patrolling local schools, a plan that's not universally adored. Saturday's training session involved a simulated school shooting at a vacant school; 25 teen volunteers took part while posse members practiced how to deal with multiple shooters. ABC News notes that some posse members have criminal records ranging from assault to sex crimes against children. Right now, the posses stay around the perimeter of the schools, but an Arpaio rep says they'll be authorized to enter if a real emergency arises. Seagal, a friend of Arpaio's and already a member of one of his posses, led other training that included hand-to-hand combat and the use of semi-automatic rifles using fake bullets. Of course, the training has quite a few opponents, and Seagal had words for them, ABC News reports. “Anybody who has criticized me or the sheriff for standing up to help the children, in my opinion, is an embarrassment to the human race," he said.