By Erin Delmore
Correspondent
Police cars, fire trucks and ambulances barreled toward Building 151 at Picatinny Arsenal as the military research and development center kicked into high gear for an active shooter drill.
“You want to know what was supposed to happen, you want to look at what actually happened, you want to have a good discussion because what you’re really driving at is obtaining what we call ‘lesson learned’ in the Army,” said Picatinny Arsenal Public Affairs Officer Tim Rider.
It’s an annual exercise to test first responders from Picatinny’s full-time police, fire and EMS units plus emergency services from the greater Morris County community.
“We cleared the three stories of the building rather quickly. Got the shooter on the ground probably within the first 15 minutes, I’d have to look at the timeline. I was one of the responding officers,” said Picatinny Arsenal Police Chief Robert Frutchey.
Picatinny develops around 90 percent of the Army’s weaponry and equipment. Its 6,000-strong workforce of scientists, engineers and support staff work in dozens of buildings across the 6,500-acre campus. Tuesday’s exercise simulated a disgruntled employee opening fire in an office building where workers — majority civilians — design weapons.
“This is a week-long event for us. We started yesterday with Chief Frutchey and our team doing some combined training with Rockaway and Jefferson Township Police Departments. … We’re here to get better, to make sure that our workforce has a safe and secure environment to work from,” said Picatinny Arsenal Garrison Commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Ivey.
“Part of what we’re testing is the emergency response capabilities, evacuation/evaluation of casualties, giving them the right treatment. So people are going to be treated for their artificial wounds,” Rider said.
No alarm could be heard across the building, but workers received a text via Army installation’s emergency notification system. Reggie Mays lives across the street. She got the message, too.
“This is really reassuring to me, that this happens and that we’ve got this, especially in today’s environment,” she said.
Picatinny officials told NJTV News employees and families on the base have undergone training on what to do in the case of an active shooter: run, hide, fight. They said Tuesday’s exercise is as valuable for gauging first responders’ capabilities as it is for measuring the impact of employees’ training.
“You always know that in today’s environment again that we are designated as you know some source of hate or whatever that could go down but I feel completely protected here,” Mays said.
The team at Picatinny Arsenal plans to do another exercise like this one next year. But until then, they’ll spend the next couple of days this week reviewing the tapes and the timelines from this exercise figuring out how they can improve in the meantime.