Residents of Wingham should not be alarmed by a large police presence Friday, June 7.
Members of the Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), West Region OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU), West Region OPP Emergency Response Team (ERT), and OPP Crisis Negotiators will conduct emergency response training at F.E. Madill High School in Wingham. Members of the public will notice several emergency response vehicles and personnel in and around the school property.
Huron County OPP Constable Craig Soldan explained training will take place from 9 a.m. right until about 1 p.m.
"The topic of the day would be an active shooter or an active attacker scenario. So we want to be prepared," he added. "Obviously, training is so important just in the event that these types of things happen. We don't anticipate anything like this happening but we want to be prepared in the worst case scenarios."
The school, located at 231 Madill Drive in Wingham, will be closed to students as they have a P.A. Day on June 7.
"So it gave us a unique opportunity to use the school while there's no one present," Soldan pointed out. "And it's always best to train in the real life environments and actual school in the county that we work within. So we're looking forward to the training."
He added training in a real life environment is important for officers who may have to respond to a situation at a school.
"Tactics and Rescue Units train all the time. They train weekly and so does ERT team," Soldan continued. "They're always training but this type of joint collaboration with schools is something new where we use their property. We haven't done one for a while in the county. So it's really good for us to do this type of training for our officers to understand the layout of the school, for example. Just the techniques that we use to move through the school and make sure that we bring the situation to a safe conclusion."
"Integrated response training is vital to public and officer safety. By leveraging collaborative police-school partnerships, community safety and well-being is promoted through emergency preparedness." said Huron OPP Detachment Commander, Inspector Jason Younan.
"Emergency training exercises are an important component of ensuring that our first responders and communities are prepared. Students and staff will not be present during this exercise but providing a school setting provides a valuable opportunity for the OPP's exercise," stated Jane Morris, Superintendent of Education with the Avon Maitland District School Board.