Imagine, if you will, two masked individuals attempting to walk into a school. Suspicious enough, right? We don’t know if either person is armed, nor do we know if there are others. All too often this type of situation unfolds with horrific outcomes.
Thankfully, the masks in this case exist only for safety. This is a training scenario. The two men are actors. They are part of a larger troop participating as victims, bystanders, as well as villains.
The concept of an active shooter can send shivers down anyone’s spine. And keeping officers on their toes as they prepare to respond to such situations can be a daunting task.
Typical training events consist of utilizing a school’s vacant facility—that’s if there’s access to such places. Some even run while in-session so students and faculty to practice their chosen response. Sometimes this type of program is run by the school themselves. Training for active shooters is invaluable. Few could argue with that. But this training can get limited as to what, when, and how long officers can work at it.
New York, for one, set out wanting to provide a way to train law enforcement that would allow for a wide variety of environments. They also wanted to keep it as close to life-like as possible. Celebrating its ten year anniversary this July, the New York State Preparedness Training Center (SPTC) is just the place. The multidiscipline complex is operated by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES). It is located in Central New York at the former Oneida County Airport. The facility occupies approximately 723 of 1,100 fenced acres of the former Airport.
The website states, “The SPTC affords state, local, and federal agencies a complex of training venues that can be used for the entire spectrum of training. From classroom lectures and discussions to skill development lanes to reality and high performance scenario-based training, the SPTC offers opportunities for dynamic emergency first responder training.”
They began with training less than a thousand officers a year. Years later, and with the world ever-changing, Bob Stallman, assistant director of the State Preparedness Training Center, says they now have multiple thousands visiting each year. The center welcomes public safety of any discipline to participate, from EMS and law enforcement to emergency management, fire, etc.
Three levels of training
Each scenario depend on the course and factors chosen by the department’s training officer. Rarely will the scene be the same when they return. However—on the day—trainees run through it twice. The second time to practice and correct any mistakes. The center seems geared towards realism. They’ve set up courses to best represent realistic events using current events as inspiration for new, challenging scenarios.
Surprisingly enough, active shooter training wasn’t the initial focus. Making sure to get the training right, “aggressive deadly behavior” response began roughly five years ago.
The basic or ground course starts with two officers. Imagine your partner gets the bare minimum of information responding to a call. It’s just you two. Team tactics is one level up with more officers on-scene to deal with the injured. They train to set up and organize themselves regardless of location. The third level of training includes multi-jurisdictional response, simultaneous attacks and
disasters (man-made or natural). For this the center is capable of utilizing as much of their acreage as possible.
The main installation has been dubbed, “Cityscape.” Appropriately named, Stallman explains that it is like a hanger—a massive hanger—with 24 different venues all under one roof. Training can be set in any number of places such as schools, shops and banks. “It’s almost like a movie backlot,” says Stallman. And that’s only indoors. Outside provides environments for woodland exercises and disaster response, among others.
The SPTC provides standard safety equipment—masks, non-lethal training rounds, marking rounds, etc. —to the participating officers. Beyond that officers are encouraged to wear the exact equipment they’d carry on duty.
Special events
Aside from regularly scheduled active shooter training, the SPTC runs two challenges throughout the year. Conducted in May, the Ravens Challenge is “an exercise designed to enhance interoperability between public safety bomb squads and military explosive ordinance disposal technicians.” Personnel form response teams and engage counter improvised explosive device operations in various scenarios. The Challenge is funded by the US Department of Defense and coordinated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Scheduled for September, Excelsior Challenge pushes the envelope even further. It invites patrol, K-9, SWAT teams, EMS and fire, as well as bomb squads, to the premises. The 2015 event added a few new elements, such as technical rescue experts for rope rescue and structural collapse support, and a “robot rodeo” which was a competition to test EOD robotics.
Not from upstate New York? Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Centers—similar in nature to SPTC—can be found in Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Georgia and Virginia.
