Highland Police Department Active Shooter Awareness Campaign

hosted an exercise for over 40 participants on the topic of an “Active Shooter”, highlighting law enforcement’s response to an armed confrontation on campus. Administrators from the School Town of Highland, as well as administrators from each of the private schools in Highland were in attendance, as was the Deputy Director of the Lake County 911 Center and management of other Town of Highland departments.

A table top exercise was presented, as were discussions regarding a policy recently implemented identified as “See Something-Say Something”. In addition, “red flags” were discussed in great detail as were listening to actual 911 tapes regarding an active shooter. Fire Chief Bill Timmer, Police Sgt. John Siple and Corporals Erich Swisher and Brian Stanley each provided critical insight and instructional materials. Our School Resource Officer Rick Hoffman, as well as Mr. Justin Franek, STOH Middle School Principal, also played a key role in the development of our final product during the last 8 months.

Our goal was to launch an awareness campaign regarding the 5 key elements we have determined most important:

Prevention vs. Reaction
Security
Awareness
Training
Communication

Highland Police Chief Pete Hojnicki

“We have been working diligently throughout this year with school officials and first responders, as we researched and determined “best practices”, in an effort to provide both staff and students a safer learning environment. Having obtained many of our policies from nationally accredited agencies, we felt compelled to share our master plan with each of our participants.”

Highland Asst. Police Chief Pat Vassar
”Each school trains annually and also participates in various drills throughout the year, as do our Police Officers…however, after so many tragic events having occurred recently in other parts of the country, we wanted to be sure our response and performance would be optimal.”

Highland Policer Cmdr. John Banasiak

“We have an outstanding School Resource Officer & Program. Our relationship with our schools and students is paramount…and we wish to only build upon it. By working with our school counterparts, we hope to enhance each other’s performance.”

School Town of Highland Superintendent Brian Smith

”This was extremely important for our community and schools to collaborate together. Today was a huge success to keep our schools and community safe.”

Highland Fire Chief Timmer

”It was good we were all able to get together and resolve problems. As Fire Chief, I feel good we can tap into our team of experts and get the information we need to get problems solved.”

Jack Allendorf, Lake County 911 Deputy Director

“The active shooter table top drill was very well planned and organized. It is drills like this that will better prepare all that would potentially be involved in such a tragic incident, from the School Town itself to all public safety departments including Lake County Emergency Communications. Communications during an emergency such as this are of utmost importance, and by being involved in the pre-planning, we can help to ensure that all involved can effectively and efficiently communicate during all phases of the incident.”

Highland Police Department – Active Shooter Awareness