University Conducts Emergency Preparedness Exercise: Training Included Half-Dozen Agencies, More than 200 Students, Faculty, and Staff
On March 24, UMass Boston conducted a full-scale emergency preparedness exercise in the Clark Athletic Center comprised of active-shooter simulations for emergency personnel response and university community awareness.
Since 2012, the university has conducted several full-scale active threat preparedness exercises for police officers and other first responders to practice active threat response procedures in a university setting, while providing students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to participate in an important emergency preparedness activity.
“The safety of our university community is our priority,” said Kathleen Kirleis, vice chancellor for Administration and Finance. “These exercises are an important part of our focus on readiness and response to emergency situations.”
This year’s exercise was the largest and most comprehensive, including UMass Boston, City of Boston, Massachusetts State, and MBTA Transit police as well as Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Boston Fire Department. It also included approximately 250 students, faculty, and staff who role-played in each scenario, exercise evaluators, and observers. The exercise created a significant public safety presence around Clark, with a State Police mobile command center and vehicles from all the participating agencies.
Image By: Javier Rivas
The three scenarios conducted in the gymnasium and hockey rink included simulated sporting events, with student-athletes playing hockey or basketball and audience members in the bleachers. An actor in the role of shooter fired blanks to simulate a shooting, causing the actors to flee, take cover, or fake injury. UMass Boston Police responded and secured the area for emergency response personnel to treat and remove the wounded. No live firearms or ammunition were involved in the simulations, and the wounds were created with face makeup and red dye on clothing.
“This full-scale emergency preparedness exercise was incredibly successful because of the many members of our campus community who participated and the involvement of area first-responder agencies,” said Justin Comeau, director of emergency management. “We thank everyone for helping us conduct an educational exercise.”
To view exercise videos from previous years, visit the Full-Scale Exercise page of the Office of Emergency Management preparedness website.
Comeau also encourages members of the campus community to view the UMass Boston Active Threat Training Video, cautioning that some scenes may appear realistic; however, all scenarios are staged for training purposes.