MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Arnold Hall was the site of active shooter training for members of University Police in Morgantown. Training officer and director of emergency management, Cpt. Matt Swain said they incorporate real-world situations into the training to make it as beneficial as possible.
“Today one of the things that is going to arise because of COVID is suicide,” Cpt. Swain said. “So, an individual with a gun is what’s going to happen today and the officers will be dispatched to that and handle it appropriately.”
Response planning includes considering both the downtown and Evansdale campuses, along with a familiarization of building types and layouts. Each officer is trained on a variety of tactics, but they quickly learn the scenario will dictate what approach is most consistent with training doctrine.
“We do work through building plans, work through evacuations, work through safety plans with each building,” Cpt. Swain said. “And not just within the police department, but emergency management works with that as well. So, we incorporate a lot of folks into that to make sure we’re covering all the angles.”
Each member of the department is taught to evaluate the situation and act quickly without waiting for tactical backup or additional officers. In the training exercise, realism and accountability is added with the “paint” rounds used by police.
“As soon as we get that call, our officers are doing what they’ve signed up to do,” Cpt. Swain said. ” And that’s go run towards it and make sure we’re taking care of our students, faculty, students and community as fast and as best as we can.”
The officers are trained to process an enormous amount of information- suspect location, casualties, duration of the incident and type of weapon- in a very short period of time. Agencies offering mutual support also have to have the same set of operating principals to ensure a safe and effective response.
“We want to be as prepared as possible, not just with the University Police but with other police departments across the state in this county that are going to respond,” Cpt. Swain said. ” Because other officers are going to respond to it and we need to make a baseline understanding of how we’re going to take care of the situation.”
This type of training is normally held when most students are away from campus to avoid inducing panic, but Swain hopes to have more training opportunities like this in the future.
“We always want to try make sure these scenarios are as real as possible,” Cpt. Swain said. ” We don’t anything crazy, and unfortunately with everything we’ve seen across the country active shooters have happened, so we draw upon our partners so we can always stay up to date.”