18 March 2015
Aggressive persons, active killers, and other hostile situations repeatedly affect our communities and institutions. There is a history of conflict in our schools, businesses, and other public areas. People continue to learn lessons from these events, and find it necessary to put an active exercise program in place to ensure that we are prepared for these events. Many institutions are struggling with identifying where to start, or how to move forward with implementing, or evaluating new and existing policies, procedures, and response actions during emergency situations involving aggressive persons.
One way Pratt Community College addressed this was by holding an “Active Shooter in the Building Tabletop Exercise” last week on campus. The purpose of the exercise was to provide college administrators, staff, emergency personnel and other community members an opportunity to review and discuss existing policies and procedures related to aggressive persons in preparation for a live campus drill to be held at PCC in the fall of 2015.
“Safety of our students and staff are of utmost concern on a daily basis,” said PCC President Michael Calvert. “We appreciate the community’s efforts to be involved in this type of exercise as we all share similar concerns of an intruder in our buildings and how best to react and connect with available resources. The conversations that occurred were eye opening and much appreciated.”
The exercise followed the guidance of FEMA’s Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) and was coordinated by Tim Branscom with Pratt County Emergency Management. It was attended by Sheriff Vernon Chinn, City Manager David Howard, the Andover and Rose Hill police chiefs, and representatives of Pratt law enforcement, the State of Kansas, Pratt Regional Medical Center, Pratt USD and Skyline Schools.
Presenters stated that it was an open, low-stress, no-fault environment. The exercise was not intended to address investigation or motivation of the aggressive person.
To learn more about PCC’s security policies and procedures and to view the Annual Security Report, visit www.prattcc.edu/SecurityReport.
