Wiesbaden, Germany – Practicing how to handle every conceivable emergency is an integral part of the training schedule for U.S. Army Military Police and German Police forces alike.
To practice how to respond to an active-shooter, U.S. Military Police and Firefighters, alongside Host Nation Law Enforcement, practiced in a joint active threat training, March 28, at Hainerberg Kaserne in Wiesbaden.
Members of the USAG Wiesbaden Military Police, Firefighters and German Police met onsite to train inside the vacant high school. The school was vacant due to spring break.
“Being able to train in this realistic environment of a high school with our U.S. partners is a great opportunity,” explained Christian Stahl, instructor of the German Police. “We routinely train for active shooter scenarios. Today, I brought in a special SWAT with 15 colleagues. In a real case, all available Police units in this area will come to the place of the emergency.”
Capt. Sebastian Pigott, Police Training Officer in Charge of the Directorate of Emergency Services at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden, led the training. He actively engaged all participants as they “cleared” the school building and practiced the tactics and procedures to follow during an active shooter situation.
“Safety, safety, safety” was the basic tenor that Pigott clearly instilled in all participants. The training was executed exclusively with inert, non-dangerous training weapons. Weapon bearers were inspected before the start of the exercise to ensure that the weapons were outfitted properly.
For the exercise scenario, approximately 20 adult actors served as both the armed perpetrators and victims. The actors portraying the attack were given precise instructions on how to act prior to the event. The security guards were given instructions and were allowed to "arrest" the attackers with the real handcuffs – to be done slowly and with minimal force.
The MPs and the special unit of the German Police worked their way systematically from room to room, from floor to floor. In the physics room of the high school, the officers successfully took down an “active shooter.” In the basement another squad found "injured" persons, who were immediately treated.
“The various security forces were combined in the exercise today,” Stahl said. “For such deployment scenarios, it is extremely important to know how the other units act and to identify possible optimization points. Such an exercise helps to refine our skills, even if we hope, there is never a need for.”
“We practiced today in order to be able to help as best we can in an emergency when we are needed,” Pigott added. “It is important to hold such joint exercises regularly. In total, it was a great training day for USAG Wiesbaden MPs and our German partners.”
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