RICHMOND, Va. — While many Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) students and faculty enjoy their spring break, VCU police conducted a joint active shooter drill with the Richmond City Police Department on Wednesday.
VCU associate vice president for public safety at VCU and VCU Health Jon Ventuti emphasized the importance of preparation for such emergencies.
"In the environment that we’re in unfortunately students have to plan and prepare for any type of active threat," Ventuti said. "Whether it occurs at VCU or whether it occurs at the movie theater at the mall."
"We can’t wait until the day of the critical incident to show up and then start to figure out what we’re going to do," Richmond Police Deputy Chief Sydney Collier said.
The drill simulated an active shooter scenario inside a VCU building on Franklin Street, featuring the sound of simulated gunfire and actors with makeup to portray significant injuries.
Approximately 75 officers participated in the exercise, including members from VCU SWAT, the bomb squad, and the drone team.
"The way that these drills are designed they're kind of to push the officer to the next level, so for example they might respond to a shooting at first then that can turn into a barricaded situation so at every level there's a different level of responsibility that not only comes from the officer but the supervisor, the communication the alerts," VCU Police Chief Clarence Hunter Jr. said.
Ventuti stated that collaboration, even during drills, is essential for effective preparation in real-life situations.
"On a daily basis, we really don’t have the opportunity to kind of control and oversee all of those resources so you could have 50 police officers show up to this particular situation but there’s got to be a rhythm of what happens, where people are going and how were clearing buildings," he said.
The Wednesday exercise is part of several drills VCU police will conduct throughout the year, aiming to assess and learn from each situation.
In addition to the drills, VCU provides a video detailing how to respond to an active shooter emergency, which both students and faculty are required to watch.
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