Apr 7, 2015 4 min read

Students studying criminal justice at Waynesburg University will get a hands-on learning experience Sunday when they participate in the school’s active shooter drill designed to help police and first responders prepare for an emergency on campus.

Police, firefighters and medics from around the Waynesburg area will use the university’s Buhl Hall during the training exercise practicing tactical maneuvers in classrooms and how to coordinate with different agencies.

“They’re going to be positioned in a way throughout the exercise to see what law enforcement will encounter – the drama and trauma and dramatic nature of the crime scene itself,” criminal justice instructor Jim Tanda said of the students.

This is the first active shooter drill planned for the university, although many other police departments and schools across the country have coordinated similar exercises over the years. However, this training session is unique in that some of the university’s students studying public safety will get to witness it.

Tanda, who has taught criminal justice at the university for three years after spending nearly 25 years as a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms supervisory special agent in Pittsburgh, helped to coordinate the training exercise and wanted his students to participate in the event. About half of Tanda’s 150 criminal justice students will be viewing the drill and role-playing inside classrooms, but they won’t be working on tactical maneuvers with police.

“This is an extension of what we already do to move them outside of the classroom to expose them to real policing and the criminal justice system,” Tanda said. “There are numerous teaching points to see how tactical maneuverers are made, but they’ll also experience it from the victim’s standpoint.

“It gives them a perspective from both sides.”

Tanda helped to update the university’s emergency response plan in 2014 and worked with the school’s newly formed Active Shooter Drill subcommittee to coordinate Sunday’s exercise. He said criminal justice students typically participate in mock trials and crime scenes, but this drill will give them a different perspective of an ongoing emergency.

“We have a pretty robust criminal justice program, and we try to do as many hands-on and practical teaching sessions as possible,” Tanda said. “It’s a unique opportunity for us to do this with the students.”

State police troopers, Waynesburg police, Greene County sheriff’s deputies, Greene County Emergency Services officials, Waynesburg-Franklin firefighters, Southwest Regional Medical Center workers and EMS Southwest will be participate in the drill alongside ATF agents from the Pittsburgh office.

Mary Cummings, who is the university’s vice president of student services, said training with area law enforcement agencies is critical, although they hope to never have to implement the techniques.

“While we pray that our community will never need to engage in this type of situation in a real-life event, we are committed to providing learning opportunities to prepare students,” Cummings said. “In this case, we are preparing criminal justice students for their futures as they have chosen a life of service in a public safety-related role.”

Mike Humiston, the university’s director of public safety, said people who see the activities should not be alarmed, and that students will be notified through various alerts before and during the drill. He asked that people not involved in the drill “go about their normal business” and not photograph or video the session.

Numerous vehicles will be parked around campus with various “scenarios” taking place during the day, he said. No live weapons will be used during the drill inside the building or at two outside rallying points on campus.

“We want all students and the community to know in advance that this is just a drill in order to avoid concern when there are multiple emergency response vehicles and personnel on campus,” Humiston said. “The area will be marked off with tape and signs.”