UCSC leads active shooter training for local agencies
Nearly a week after the deadly massacre at an Orlando, Florida, night club, local law enforcement agencies are coming together to make sure they’re prepared to face an active shooter.
University of California Santa Cruz police and nearly two dozen other agencies took part in a special training program on campus. While it might be just a drill, the officers and firefighters are treating it like it is the real thing.
“Just like anything, it’s good to practice,” said U.C. Santa Cruz Police Chief Nader Oweis said.
The university has been doing these types of exercises for about four years.
“To be able to respond to the active shooter incident but also to save lives,” Oweis said.
Oweis said that in the past the goal was to just get in and get the bad guy. But now the training has expanded, adding firefighters. Their job, along with other officers, is to make sure anyone who is hurt gets treated as soon as possible.
“Our hopes are that in the future these rescue task forces will save more and more lives,” Oweis said.
Last year, Scott Hernandez-Jason, who also serves as spokesperson for the campus, volunteered to play a victim in the training.
“When the scenario starts, your heart starts racing,” Hernandez-Jason described. “You know to some extent was is going to happen, but there is still a lot of uncertainties.”
After the training mission, everyone gets debriefed and instructors tell the teams how they did.
“Our scenarios aren’t always about going in a getting the bad guy, and so the situation is going to dictate and officers have to react appropriately,” Oweis said.
The training is something student Juan Ruiz said he appreciates. But after the latest mass shooting in Orlando, he is still uneasy.
“I think it is good,” Ruiz said. “It doesn’t necessarily make me feel safer, especially after what happened in Orlando. No one expected that.”
In addition to these officer and firefighter training, campus police say they have been teaching students in various ways on what to do in case there is a situation on campus. One way they are communicating to students is through alerts on their cellphones.
