On Wednesday evening, October 28th, South District Community Policing Team Officer Molly Jean Thomson conducted "Active Shooter Preparedness Training" for faith community leaders located within the South District. One of the roles MPD Community Policing Teams undertake is community outreach and providing relevant safety information on contemporary issues. Sadly, houses of worship across the country have been the scene of far too many violent incidents in recent years. The Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting in 2012 is one which just happened to occur very close to home here in Wisconsin. In her invite e mail to South District faith community leaders, Officer Thomson noted how there have been 160 such active shooter incidents in public spaces, nationwide, between 2000 and 2013.
Nine different houses of worship sent representatives to last week's training in McConnell Hall at Meriter Hospital. Officer Thomson presented information to those in attendance on how to create an emergency operation plan for responding to active shooter incidents. The early feedback we received from those in attendance was that her presentation was enlightening and helpful in starting a conversation on a difficult topic to discuss. For more information on active shooter preparedness training, click on the below link to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
http://www.dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness
