In a joint effort to adhere to best practices, the city of Elmhurst and Elmhurst College sponsored a recent series of training events for police, fire and security staffers in the community and on campus.
During the exercises, police officers, firefighters and Elmhurst College safety personnel—along with DuPage Public Safety Communications, or “DU-COMM,” 9-1-1 dispatchers and community volunteers—participated in scenarios to learn procedures for casualties such as mass shootings.
Settings were devised to resemble real-life injuries, rehearse leadership and response procedures, and safely apprehend violent perpetrators, with a primary focus on speed of response.
Elmhurst’s public safety departments plan such drills annually to keep first responders current on tactics, ensure clear communication and enhance overall public safety in the jurisdiction. Several scenarios depend on community liaisons playing a potential part in evacuations or other crisis procedures.
Public safety training also serves to strengthen the alliance and working relationships among Elmhurst’s public safety agencies and Elmhurst civic organizations. This type of training is valuable to all emergency responders involved.
DU-COMM is a large consolidated intergovernmental agency for first responders in DuPage County since 1975. Serving 45 county agencies, it is one of Illinois’ largest consolidated 9-1-1 centers, processing more than 1.1 million phone calls, and more than 600,000 police and Fire/EMS incidents in 2015.
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