By Capitola Police Sergeant Tom Held
The call for the drill comes out, “Multiple shooters on campus, several students and teachers wounded.” This is the last broadcast an emergency responder wants to hear, but in our society this has become a reality. County public safety agencies conducted a drill on October 10 at the New Brighton Middle School campus to prepare and train for such a tragedy.
Participating in the county’s first live school lockdown drill were Capitola Police, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, California State Parks, Santa Cruz Consolidated Emergency Communications Center, American Red Cross, American Medical Response, County Mental Health, the County Office of Education, Soquel Unified School District and New Brighton Middle School. The event was to help evaluate emergency response and the school’s preparedness to a possible school shooting.
During the drill, teams of law enforcement officers arrived and rendered the school safe for evacuation and medical personnel. Students, teachers, employees and administrators were on site and locked down in their classrooms and offices during the drill. Medical teams treated the “wounded” and two classrooms were evacuated. School officials evaluated their lockdown procedures and ability to work with the responding public safety agencies.
Letters were sent home to parents the day before the drill advising them of the planned event. Kathy Moeller, Vice Principal, confirmed there were more students on campus the day of the drill than any other day of the school year.
The Capitola Police Department wishes to thank New Brighton Middle School Principal Rob Martin and his staff and students who took the drill seriously. Obtaining full cooperation from the Soquel Unified School District, New Brighton Middle School and the students was what made the drill a success.
While emergency personnel were participating in the drill, an actual school shooting took place in Cleveland Ohio, leaving four injured and the teenage shooter dead. This only validates the need for this type of multi-agency training.
A second drill was conducted on the San Lorenzo Valley High School Campus on October 17, 2007.
