Multiple agencies were involved in a training exercise in Saint John Wednesday, responding to a simulated school shooting.
The exercise was the culmination of a three-year project between the provincial and federal governments to develop a multi-agency system to deal with a critical incident.
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“A couple of 911 calls were received from Simonds High School that some adults had entered the school lobby and they were armed with both long rifles and hand guns,” said Staff Sgt. Jim Fleming of the Saint John Police Force, explaining the simulation. “There was some shooting that took place. We weren’t sure upon initially responding but there were reports that there were some casualties among the school students and some of the staff.”
A variety of levels of technology were used including a drone which appeared to be surveying the area around the school. Student volunteers were even recruited as actors creating a complex scenario.
“We’ve got everything going here,” Fleming said. “We’ve got injured students, we have injured staff, we have people who we really don’t know who they are.
“Part of that is to always try to train at a higher level than what you expect to deal with.”
The exercise is designed to be as real life as possible, so much so that the chief of police in Saint John even didn’t know the details of what was taking place.
“If we’re going to test our capability and our capacities, we shouldn’t know in advance what it is that we’re going to be dealing with,” said Chief John Bates.
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By all accounts, the exercise was carried out smoothly.