As part of ongoing efforts to train for emergency situations, Mendocino College and local law enforcement agencies partnered today for an active shooter training scenario at the Mendocino College Ukiah Campus. The collaboration was led by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office and included participation by the Ukiah Police Department, Ft. Bragg Police Department, Willits Police Department, Cal Fire, the Office of Emergency Services, the Ukiah High School SCRUBS program as well as other key local emergency responders. More than sixty members of local law enforcement agencies and paramedic services were actively involved in the drill that took place on Wednesday.
Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies, unloaded guns drawn, entered the doors of many buildings on the Mendocino College Ukiah Campus Wednesday morning during an active shooter exercise. Meanwhile, volunteer community members acted as victims of a campus shooting.
Arturo Reyes, Mendocino College Superintendent/President, stated, “Faculty and staff at the college are concerned about how to respond to an active shooter on campus. The College has existing protocols and procedures to address this; however, today provided an excellent opportunity to exercise them in collaboration with law enforcement. This marked a key moment during which we could focus on a very important issue.”
Mendocino College administrative staff and Ukiah High SCRUBS students were active role players in the event. As the scenario progressed from building to building, alert systems were deployed, the emergency texting system was used and fictitious 911 calls were made to test communications with law enforcement. While the scenario was primarily designed for law enforcement, the College used this opportunity to affirm its communication protocols and general response. More and more higher learning institutions are relying on training exercises and drills such as this, to prepare students and staff on how to deal with every situation in their institution, Mendocino College wanted to be on the front end of this training.
Mendocino College Vice President, Eileen Cichocki, states, “Today’s active shooter training was an important step for the campus and represents a cutting-edge activity for campus safety overall. While we hope we never encounter this situation, our efforts today and our collaboration with local law enforcement have moved us forward in fine-tuning our response.”
President Reyes concludes, “We would like to thank all of the local agencies for coming together and conducting this major training exercise at our facility. This event was truly an example of tremendous collaboration between community members, law enforcement, local emergency agencies, and our college community. The commitment to public safety shown in our community is truly first class.”