UC Santa Cruz holds annual active shooter training exercise

UC Santa Cruz is holding its annual active shooter training with multiple local law enforcement agencies and volunteers that recreate scenarios faced in an active shooter situation.

“The training is designed to prepare the UC Santa Cruz Police Department, local allied law enforcement agencies, and local fire agencies on how to respond together to an active shooter incident using the latest tactics and equipment available,” said Nader Oweis, the chief of UC Santa Cruz Campus Police.

The school shut down a portion of the campus on Wednesday for the large-scale training. About 50 firefighters and police officers participated.

“We need to be able to prepare. Things that are happening in the world, unfortunately, are happening,” said Oweis. “If we’re not prepared for it, more lives may be lost.”

This is the sixth year the campus has put on this type of training. Over 40 agencies from local ones to San Francisco police joined together to sharpen their skills and improve their response times.

Oweis said the training encompasses three parts: first is neutralizing the immediate threat so that no more lives might be lost, second is to treat the wounded and evacuate them as soon as possible, and lastly it is to train responders to help the community, and themselves, to process a tragedy.

“These realistic scenarios prepare them for what they’re going to see in the real world,” said Leslie Brown, the director of education at Totem Tactical Medical Division.

Trainees got a chance to treat a gun shot wound using fake blood and organs. During an active shooter incident, emergency responders must get to a victim safely, determine the victim’s condition and perform potentially life-saving treatment before evacuating.

“I wish I didn’t have to worry about active shooters,” said Raj Dipachowdhury, a senior at UCSC. “I think it’s good for schools to do training because then people are prepared if something like that happens and it will reduce the number of people getting injured or killed.”

The training will continue until Friday.

Oweis said in the last two years the survival rate in active shooter incidents has gone up from 50 percent to 80 percent. He largely attributes that to law enforcement training.