SAINT PAUL, Minnesota — Shots echoed in the hallways of the Brady Educational Center earlier today followed by pairs of St. Paul Police Department SWAT officers storming through the South Campus building as part of a training exercise for an active shooter situation.
“Say there were to be an active shooter situation in this building. We’re working on the movements of how we would get to the shooter,” SWAT Team Cmdr. Tim Flynn said before he briefed his team in the choir room. “New buildings are always good for us. It’s our first time with eyes on this building.”
On Dec. 28 the St. Thomas Department of Public Safety sent out an email informing students that the BEC would be closed from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday due to the exercise. The training, which involved 45 SWAT officers, was coordinated with Public Safety and was part of a routine training regimen meant to keep officers on the same page.
The BEC provided an unfamiliar environment in which officers could train and was used by the SWAT Team to practice basic movements against a hostile shooter.
After a short briefing in the choir room, the officers split into two groups and waited in a hallway, cracking jokes and fidgeting until interrupted by blank rounds fired from an officer somewhere in the building. Teams of two, occasionally accompanied by a St. Paul Fire Department medic, rounded corners, swept stairways and stormed into rooms searching for the day’s villain – a paper target on a stick.
This exercise not only sharpened skills, but is important for coordination between SWAT and Public Safety, according to Public Safety Director Dan Meuwissen.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for us to have an open building for [SWAT],” Meuwissen said. “It helps us coordinate efforts and see how they would respond. Overall we have a very positive working relationship with the SPPD.”
Public Safety officers only provided keys to the building and secured the perimeter for this particular exercise, but Cmdr. Flynn, one of several St. Thomas graduates on the team, said the exercise was representative of the good relationship between St. Thomas and the police. He said it could also lead to greater collaborations and worst-case scenario preparation in the future.
“We’ve had a relationship with St. Thomas for the past 10 years,” Flynn said. “We try to meet with every university and high school in the city of St. Paul to familiarize ourselves with the campus.”
After today’s training, the officers are expected to take their skills and teach them to the rest of the police force – those most likely to be first responders in a real active shooter situation.
Simeon Lancaster can be reached at lanc4637@stthomas.edu