It starts as a typical day at Centennial College, with students talking in the courtyard, walking in the hallways and sitting in the library. Suddenly, the music turns ominous and you see the active attacker entering the College with a weapon.
This is the opening scene of Centennial College’s new instructional video, Active Attacker Response Procedures. The College community got a sneak preview of the video, before its final cut, on February 13 as part of the winter 2018 Lockdown Drills messaging. The video focuses on teaching students and staff about the critical DEFEND option recently added to Centennial’s active attacker procedures.
The new video emphasizes how the College community can work together to increase the chances of survival in the event there is an armed attacker on campus. If it looks convincing, it’s because the weapons and the police officers are real, with one officer playing the role of the attacker.
“I learned that one of our partners in Toronto Police Services was looking for buildings to conduct weekend training scenarios for its officers, and I thought it was a good opportunity for Centennial,” says Ron White, Manager, Life Safety & Security Services, Planning and Operations.
As Life Safety and Security began planning for the training segment, they realized there was further potential to benefit the College. They had been developing a new emergency procedures strategy that included a training video to introduce its new EVACUATE – LOCKDOWN – DEFEND active attacker options.
Ron White and Marc Buzzeo partnered with Marketing and Communications to develop the video script, storyboard, production and execution of the video. Along with the new communications materials that will help the College community understand the new active attacker options.
“We invited Police Foundations staff and students to participate in the training exercise, warning them that the police would be acting as if it were a real active attacker scenario,” adds Marc, Emergency Management & Compliance Consultant. “It gave the students a great opportunity to make a direct correlation between what they are studying and what a real-life scenario looks like.”
The EVACUATE – LOCKDOWN – DEFEND options are part of Centennial’s evolving emergency procedures, giving the College community more choices for how to best respond to – and survive – an attack. In addition to the video, Life Safety and Security has put up new Active Attacker awareness posters on its campus safety boards and in common spaces throughout our campuses. The posters use pictograms to demonstrate the College’s new Evacuate – Lockdown - Defend procedures. In addition, Life Safety and Security has updated our classroom Emergency Procedures signs outlining the College’s fire, active attacker and sexual assault reporting procedures along with a comprehensive list of emergency phone numbers.
Life Safety and Security will continue to partner with Toronto Police Services and other subject matter experts in their quest to keep us safe. Learn more about our Active Attacker Response Procedures by viewing the final Active Attacker Response Procedures video on the College’s YouTube page.