Idaho Falls Police stage campus shooting response drill
Tonight the Idaho Falls Police Department and Idaho State University worked together to prepare for the unthinkable.
The SWAT team and other tactical units used the Center for Advanced Energy studies to stage a mock campus shooting.
Law enforcement around the country is faced with the reality of possible violence on university campuses and tonight was about practice.
On Tuesday night tactical teams were briefed on a chilling scenario:
A disgruntled husband of a fictional CAES employee had entered the building with a gun and had taken hostages after wounding several other people.
Our cameras weren’t allowed inside the building, but volunteers played the roles of the injured, and the shooter — all to train police for a large scale response to a life or death situation.
“Unfortunately active shooter is one of the things universities across the country have been preparing for,” said ISU Idaho Falls dean Lyle Castle.
The IFPD worked closely with ISU and CAES to hold this training inside one of the buildings on campus.
“You look at the things happening all over the country, and the reason that things like why those agencies all worked so well in Boston is they practiced like this,” said IFPD Captain Royce Clements.
Last year ISU was one of only a few universities to participate in the Emergency Management Accreditation pilot program and is working toward an accreditation of its emergency management program.
