As many of us remember, last November UC Merced experienced a scenario that all law enforcement officers train for but hope they never encounter when a freshman student carried out a planned attack which left four people wounded and resulted in his own death by campus police. Although tragic, just like the aftermath of any incident, what becomes imperative are the efforts we invest in lessons learned and measures we take to ensure the future prevention, protection and mitigation from future crisis similar in nature.
Over the weekend (May 21st), UC Merced partnered with the Merced County Office of Emergency Services to deliver a multi-agency violent incident training at the university. Participating agencies included the California Highway Patrol, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, the Atwater and Merced police departments, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Riggs Ambulance Service, Merced College, Merced County, city fire departments, California State Parks and 50 students from the Atwater High School drama department who served as exercise actors. UC Merced Police Chief Albert Vasquez stated “The collaborative training is important, so that if a violent incident does occur, law enforcement and emergency personnel recognize each other and there are adequate resources to respond.”
The scenario that all exercise participants were provided at the beginning of this county-wide training is as follows: “A lone gunman is in the building, multiple people have been injured and the suspect is armed with semi-automatic handguns and extra ammunition. It’s up to law enforcement and emergency responders to evacuate the injured and subdue the gunman – all at the same time.” To read more about this training and the lengths that not only the university but the county as a whole is taking to be prepared for these types of possible incidents in the future please see http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article79198792.html
We encourage the community to partner with the UC Irvine Police Department to prevent or report crime by calling (949) 824-5223. If you wish to remain Anonymous, call “OC Crime Stoppers” by dialing 855-TIP-OCCS (855-847-6227), text "OCCS" plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or use the website http://occrimestoppers.org/
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