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-Editorial
With the frequency of mass shootings becoming a dangerous trend that has taken the lives of many people, Imperial Valley College hosted a small-scale, multi-agency emergency preparedness exercise at their campus.
At 9 a.m sharp the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Teams and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) and the Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) Unit arrived at the college with rifles on hand and entered the 3100 building to follow a protocol they have learned in their specialized training on how to address the threat to make sure it’s stopped. Then a systematic search to make sure there are no additional dangers will follow. Once the building is deemed safe, they allow the medical personnel to come in and start giving first aid to those that need it.
The scenario involved an Active Assailant Drill to create a challenging situation for the participating agencies to navigate. The purpose of the scenario is to simulate a real-life event, and illicit decisive action steps based on individual training.
The practice scenario involved multiple Law Enforcement Agencies that will provide a learning experience for the IVC Campus community. This scenario identified individual strengths and weaknesses that will better equip all entities involved.
“Our focus is that we stop that threat and start getting medical personnel to start administrating first aid to those who are hurt, evacuate the area to a safe place so we can start reuniting the students with their families,” Lieutenant Clint Erro from the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department. “From the Sheriff’s office standpoint, we are dealing with the incident and when things start to slow down, we start putting up information so we can make that reunification process as seem less as possible.”
Imperial Valley College President/Superintendent Lennor M. Johnson said drills like this one is important for the safety of students and staff.
“The one thing that keeps me up at night, we all hear the news of what’s going across the country is the safety of our staff, faculty, and students. We can’t learn if we don’t have a safe environment. That’s why we increased our campus security staff and the protocols we are putting in place to prevent something like this from happening,” Johnson said.
Everytown for Gun Safety estimates that between 2009 and 2020, there were 93 public mass shootings, an average of over eight shootings a year. What’s more, 11% of these incidents happened in K-12 schools or colleges.
