Greeley, Weld work together in mock terrorism exercises

As part of an emergency drill Wednesday, Weld County Sheriff’s Deputy Shane Scofield watches the bomb squad’s robot examine a “suspicious package” near the Greeley Air National Guard Station east of Greeley. The incident was part of a daylong drill to help local law enforcement and the Air National Guard unit work better together in emergency situations.

Mike Peters/mpeters@greeleytribune.com

It was only a drill.
But for the Greeley police, Weld County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado Air National Guard, the exercise Wednesday afternoon was important for many reasons.

They call it “interoperability,” and it means the various agencies must learn to work together (inter-operate) in emergency situations.

That was what they attempted Wednesday afternoon at the Guard headquarters and across the street in a parking lot.

Three mock operations were presented Wednesday:

» A suspicious package that could be a bomb;

» a hostage situation, where the suspect is talking to negotiators; and

» a hostage situation with shots fired.

The idea of various agencies working closer is a direct result of the Columbine High School shootings, said Weld Undersheriff Margie Martinez. In that situation, laws officers were operating on different radio frequencies and had commanders from different departments who were contradicting each other’s orders.

“Now we have NIMS, or the National Incident Management System,” said sheriff’s spokesman Shane Scofield. “It puts everybody on the same playing field, both through the radio communication and under one commander.”

Col. Skip Johnson, commander of the 137th Space Warning Squadron east of Greeley, said the squadron needs to rely on Greeley and Weld County if there is an emergency. “We’re geographically separated by 50 miles from our host wing,” Johnson said. “We rely heavily on the local first responders from Greeley and Weld County.”

The Space Warning Squadron is a militarily sensitive area. They track any launches of missiles or other weapons around the world through satellites. The Air National Guard has total responsibility for an air defense of the entire United States, which could also make any Air National Guard facility a terrorist target.

The Greeley/Weld County Bomb Squad responded first to the area, and investigated a large Army green satchel left in the parking lot. They had little information on the “package” and examined it from a distance with a robot. Finally, a role player arrived to tell them he accidentally left his pack in the area.

Later in the afternoon, the three agencies worked together to free “hostages” being held inside office buildings at the Air National Guard station.

Following the exercises, the members met to review their actions in each of the situations, and an “Action Report” will be released later.

“We believe it was a good exercise,” said Roy Rudisill, director of the Weld County Office of Emergency Management. “The national guard and the law enforcement agencies worked very well together.”
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