By Stephen Hagan
Gloucester Daily Times
MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, Mass. — About 90 Cape Ann first responders reported to Manchester-by-the-Sea over the weekend for an active shooter drill at Memorial Elementary School.
The training, known as the “Active Attack Integrated Response” course, started Saturday and continued Sunday. It included classroom teaching, but gave firefighters and police from Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea the experience of participating in simulated real-life situations.
It also aimed to strengthen bonds between the departments.
On Sunday, the police and firefighters assembled in the school parking lot to respond to a mock active shooter incident with several “casualties” inside the school. Some were armed with Glock 17T training pistols that fired blanks during the drill.
As an exercise in refining radio communications, those inside the school reported to those assembled outside on the status of the mock shooting.
“’The suspect is down,” one officer reported on the police radio. “The suspect is under arrest.”
Following that, several “patients” were carried outside to a waiting ambulance parked at the front of Memorial School.
John Mazza, statewide director of the Active Shooter Hostile Event Response unit, part of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, said there can never be too much training.
“You never know if and when this could happen,” Mazza said at the scene.
Communication and cooperation
Merrimac police Chief Eric Shears, who facilitated the exercise, told participants that communication and cooperation would be essential at a real active shooter incident.
It would be imperative to set up a “unified command,” establish ties with unfamiliar police and firefighters on the scene, and manage all aspects of a real public safety response — including keeping the area secure, he said.
“When you meet somebody, reach out and shake their hands,” Shears said. “We’re going to battle together.”
Shears pointed to a recent swatting incident in Merrimac where authorities responded to a bogus emergency call at a school. He said parents arrived almost as fast as public safety officials — in this case within four minutes of the first calls to police.
“They have to be dealt with too,” Shears said.
Rockport police Chief John Horvath said conducting the drills in the controlled environment at Manchester Memorial School helped to establish trust and understanding for each of the participants.
“The collaboration includes a coordinated emergency response, in order for our personnel to work together effectively,” he said. “The training emphasizes the importance of having a unified plan that integrates law enforcement’s role in neutralizing threats and fire (and) EMS personnel’s role in providing medical care and evacuating victims.”
The training introduced shared communication protocols that would ensure “that all teams are on the same page” and minimize the potential for miscommunication, Horvath said.
“Our goal is a faster, safer and more efficient emergency response that can save lives and mitigate the damage caused by a critical incident,” he said. “We are committed to providing this service at the highest level to our communities.”
Essex Fire Chief Ramie Reader said his department regularly trains to hone emergency response skills. The weekend training, he said, simply added to the knowledge police and fire officials need to have.
“We’ve been doing a lot of active shooter training over the past couple of years,” Reader said. “You can never do enough.”
Essex police Chief Paul Francis said the training stressed the importance of planning and coordination.
“I think it’s a great thing,” he said. “This type of training has evolved over the years. The idea is to blend police and EMS/firefighters.”
Cape Ann first responders have developed protocols that foster smooth emergency responses, and Reader said they have much experience coordinating their respective responses.
The weekend training, Francis said, only helps.
“The idea is to get medical help to the victims as soon as possible,” he said. “It saves lives. We do a lot of things together. We get to know each other and we work well together. God forbid, there’s an incident in one of our schools. Manchester, Rockport and Essex are coming.”
The training’s active shooter drills were timely in light of recent mass shooting incidents, Manchester-by-the-Sea police Chief Todd Fitzgerald said.
“You see what’s happening all around the country,” he said. “It’s important to be prepared for an active shooter, whether it’s in a school setting or a municipal building that we have to respond to. I think we just need to get everyone on the same page, whether it’s police or fire. The goal is to bring all the communities together.
“It’s important that we all work together to make the responses a seamless and smooth process.”
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