Colorado State University Police Department is hosting an emergency management preparedness training for emergency responders from across the nation from Monday, May 24, through Thursday, May 27.
The training will be held at Canvas Stadium and focuses on drills for first responders on active threat scenarios that specifically target large event venues when many people are present with the intent to cause high numbers of injuries and casualties.
The training aims to help police respond to incidents such as the one that has occurred at the Mandalay Bay Hotel during the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. It will be attended by first responders from across the nation, and the training’s public health measures have been approved by the university’s Pandemic Preparedness Team.
The comprehensive training ranges from classroom instruction to drills involving firing weapons at targets designed to trap bullets (stop the bullet from traveling as soon as it strikes the target), after participants pass qualification tests. Gunfire from inside the stadium may be heard from nearby locations during the training.
“It is critical that first responder training replicates real-life situations as often as possible, and this particular training allows law enforcement officers from across the nation to practice responding to an active threat in a real-world environment,” said Wendy Rich-Goldschmidt, interim executive director of Colorado State University Police Department.
The training is closed to the public. It will be attended by 25 first responders from across the nation.
