OPD ready to train with Active Shooter gear

The Olney Police Department took delivery of tactical gear that Chief Dan Birbeck will use to train OPD officers and area law enforcement in active shooter drills, and to eventually conduct a citywide drill. The equipment includes simulation guns, headgear, throat protectors and breaching tools. It was purchased through a grant from the Perry’s Foundation.

“The equipment that we got from the Perry Grant is the same equipment that the ALERRT (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) center in San Marcos uses to train law enforcement across the country for active shooter response,” Chief Birbeck said. “We also have extended invitations to the Young County Sheriff ’s Office, the Graham Police Department, Archer County and surrounding agencies that if they want to come and participate in the training with us … since we will be responding together … so that we will all be on the same page with our response to [an] event.”

The officers will begin the training, and will eventually include first responders citywide and countywide before inviting citizens to participate as “moulage patients” with simulated injuries, he said. “Eventually what I would like to do is have a system-wide drill where we have the event response and then the incident management after the event where you would do a casualty investigation, crime scene and EMS would be involved in transporting moulage patients,” he said. “Basically it’s a training [and] test of our readiness in the unlikely event that it will happen here.”