Through a grant from the US Department of Homeland Security local safety workers and university administration at UW Stout spent Thursday morning using a three-dimensional model city to practice their response in an emergency.
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They did that, using what's called the incident command system.
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"This is an eye opening experience for most of them because a lot of people that we have in this are non law enforcement and not fire personnel, we've got our campus administrators here," Stout Police Officer Donald Gjetson said.
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In addition to working with the police, Gjetson is also incident command instructor. He says Thursday's drill was the culmination of a three-day workshop, which teaches public safety, police, fire and first-response personnel how to work together most efficiently.
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Thanks to the model, a miniature city, Gjetson says the scenario seemed real. With officers in the field and agency leaders at the command post.
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He says the model travels to campuses throughout the country and though it represented UW Stout on Thursday, it can be any University.
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Communications Director Doug Mell says with 85-hundred students on campus, the hands on training is vital.
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"Things happen on campus, things happen in the city, things happen in the county and I think because of this planning we'll have a lot more tools to deal with an incident, if and when they do occur," he said.
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Mell says UW Stout is a city, within a city, meaning the University often works closely with other local agencies. He says training like this helps develop the cooperation they'll need during a critical situation.
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And though he admits you can never be prepared for everything, he says Stout is getting close.
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Simulation-training drills have been held at universities across the country, but UW stout is the first campus in Wisconsin to take part.