If there’s an upside to the recent school closings in the area, it’s that the vacant buildings have given local police and fire teams a unique opportunity to conduct specialized training operations.
Local law enforcement teams today will be using Mission Valley Middle School as the site for exercises designed to prepare officers for real-life critical incidents.
The Prairie Village police’s Critical Incident Response Team and Raytown’s SWAT team will join other local agencies to learn new response techniques and share information. Prairie Village’s Critical Incident Response Team leader Sgt. Byron Roberson said the group will work on active shooter situations, fugitive apprehension and VIP protection strategies. A K-9 unit from Leawood will also take part in the activities.
RED Development, which purchased the Mission Valley property last year, allowed the agencies to organize the training day on the site.
“This type of training environment is extremely hard to come by and very much appreciated,” Roberson said.
Roberson said the training should be in full effect by around 10 a.m. (so if you see a bunch of police cars and a SWAT truck outside later today, don’t worry).
