Police to Simulate Gunman Threat at Eisenhower

By Mike Deak

When heavily-armed police officers descend on Eisenhower School later this month, they will be training for something they hope will never happen.

The active shooter training is mandated by the state Attorney General’s Office for every police department in the state, said Lt. Damian Bauman, supervisor of firearms training for the Bridgewater Police Department.

The training sessions, to be held in the late afternoons of July 10 and 24, are closed to the public and only law enforcement officers will be participating and allowed on school grounds, the lieutenant said. No civilians or school district staffers will be involved in the training.

“It’s strictly internal,” Police Chief Richard Borden said. 

Officers will be participating in an emergency scenario at the school after attending classroom sessions, Bauman said.

The training is relevant for police at any location but the school became a “pertinent” setting after the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the lieutenant said.

The goal of the exercise is to train police officers in the tactics involved in “neutralizing” a threat, Bauman said.  

To provide a realistic but safe training situation, police will be using Simunitions,  a non-lethal ammunition that closely simulates gunfire, the lieutenant said.

Police have held similar training at the Bridgewater Commons a few years ago, Borden said.

The training has also been held at John F. Kennedy School in Raritan.

The Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education has sent out an e-mail about a training exercise and has posted it on its website, http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us.