"No one wants believe that something of this magnitude would ever happen on their campus," said Chief Jimmy Ellison, ACU Police. "The stark reality is, however, tragedies such as Columbine, Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University have shown these events can occur anywhere, and it is our responsibility to be adequately prepared."
Several local law enforcement and emergency response agencies will be called upon to test their responses in the event of an active shooter situation on a local campus. These agencies include ACUPD, Abilene Police Department, Taylor County Sheriff’s Department, Abilene City Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety, Abilene Fire Department, MetroCare Services and the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) center out of the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University.
"We have a full day of training scenarios set up which we hope will fully test multiple agency responses to a school shooting," said Lt. Tracy Weems, APD SWAT coordinator. "Every agency trains on their own, but the reality is, in a school shooting there will be officers from various agencies arriving on the scene simultaneously, and it is imperative that they know how to respond together to end the threat."
Not only will the ACUPD and other responding agencies be tested, the administrative side of ACU will activate its Emergency Response Team (ERT) to respond to the scenario.
"It's very important that the university administration is also prepared to respond," said Ellison. "We will activate the ERT during one of the exercises and play it out as if it was real. No one knows how they will react in a true emergency, so training helps us see what we do well, and where we need to improve."
Unlike tabletop exercises, this drill will include volunteers playing the roles of students, innocent bystanders and suspects. The agencies involved do not know what they will encounter within the residence hall each time they enter. They will have to rely on what they have been trained to do.
"Perhaps more than at any other time in the history of higher education, colleges and universities are faced with heightened risks and dangers to our campus communities," said Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president for student life at ACU. "While such institutions may never reach a point of total preparedness, we must do all that we can to hone our approach and response to campus disasters and emergencies. Wednesday's training involves an impressive variety of emergency response teams, including our own ACU Emergency Response Team. Such collaboration and practice will surely take ACU to the next level of preparedness."
Abilene Regional Medical Center and Academy Sports & Outdoors helped fund the training exercise.
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If you are a member of the media who would like more information about this release, please contact ACU's Public Relations Office .
