Please review the TCNJ Campus Training Presentation
In light of recent active shooting incidents, the NJ ROIC is reinforcing the need for awareness on what to do when an active-shooter incident occurs. For more information, please review the following resources.
On March 24th, 2013 TCNJ Public Safety Telecommunicator (PST) Amy Podolski answered a 911 cell phone call that originated from Atlantic City, New Jersey. A woman had stopped breathing and her adult son was desperately requesting medical assistance. PST Podolski calmly walked the son through CPR while simultaneously sending emergency life support to their Vermont Avenue address. For 15 minutes, PST Podolski continued her steady instructions through the background distraction of the caller’s hysterically crying young nieces. When the victim’s breathing resumed, PST Podolski instructed her son to lay his mother on her left side. Her breathing stopped a second time and again PST Podolski coached the son to begin CPR under her direction until paramedics arrived on the scene. The victim was transported to the hospital and returned home later that evening. In speaking to Campus Police Captain Tim Grant, the son credited PST Podolski with saving his mother’s life. “That woman (Amy) who guided me saved my mother’s life. She told me everything I needed to do. I just want to thank her. She was wonderful.”
LionsSHARE Weekly News for April 8-14, 2013
The officers entered the room, finding several people sitting at desks and the killer crouched behind the teacher’s lectern, holding a rifle and clad in body armor. Yellow and red bullets flew across the room, taking down another two unarmed people and the killer.
The “active killer” simulations at TCNJ are being run by the State Police this week to prepare campus and Mercer County sheriff’s officers to respond to shootings in public areas like shopping malls and college campuses, State Police Sgt. Michael Ambrosio said. All officers in New Jersey must undergo such training, he said. It’s the second year the college has hosted the simulations.
New this year were GoPro cameras attached to helmets worn by the lead officer in each simulation and the troopers playing the killers. A college staffer also shot video of the simulations at same time. The footage was reviewed after the morning’s simulations ended.
“Going through this sort of thing prepares you for a circumstance you don’t ever want to deal with, and seeing the video element is great because you can critique the mistakes,” said college spokesman Matthew Golden, who was caught in the crossfire during one simulation as he lay motionless on the ground.
“They shot me when I was already dead,” he said.
Several State Police troopers also played the roles of innocent bystanders and killers armed with guns and body armor. All the participants were required to wear helmets and neck protectors, and encouraged to wear heavy clothing to avoid bruises from the soap bullets.
During the final simulation of the morning, a trooper acting as a bystander started playing a piano in the classroom, complaining loudly of cramped knuckles. As soap bullets flew he ducked out of the way, still playing his tune until the simulation ended.
A few minutes later, the officers watched the camera footage and had their performance reviewed by Maskello.
“We’re not here to bust anybody’s chops. We’re certainly not experts, but any critique is just that,” Maskello said. “You have to be confident in your abilities to get the job done.”
All of TCNJ’s campus police officers will go through the training sessions, Chief John Collins said.
“The idea is that if they have to do it in real life, they can react to it,” Collins said.
Ideally, schools would practice active killer drills with students the same ways they practice fire drills, so that students would know how to protect themselves in such situations, Ambrosio said.
“The guns are already out there. People need to know what to do,” he said.
As each simulation began, officers did not know how many active shooters or bystanders were involved or where in the building the shooting was taking place.
“You have to improvise and overcome because that’s how it is in real life,” Ambrosio said.
Each simulation required the sheriff’s officers and campus police to go from the first floor to the second and down the length of a hallway, verifying the safety of rooms as they went.
“It was very impressive, I think, for two organizations that haven’t worked together before. That’s a great job,” Ambrosio said.
In real-life dangerous situations, the college uses an alert system called Send Word Now to notify the campus community of threats, Golden said. It includes text message alerts, email, voice messages, a hotline and a message on the school’s website, Golden said.
“So we have always try to have a bunch of different systems in case one goes down,” Golden said.
The final day of training will be held at TCNJ today. Collins said he hoped the officers would use the experience as a learning tool.
“At the very least if practice is what you got out of it, you can’t ask for more than that,” Maskello said. “You can’t get enough of it.”
Contact Alyssa Mease at amease@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5673.
In the fall of 2008, as part of a new Community Policing initiative to enhance security and improve communication with students and staff in residence facilities, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Campus Police created a new police assignment, Residential Education Liaison Officer. The stated purpose of this assignment is to patrol the campus residence facilities and function as the department’s primary liaison with Residence Education and Housing. It also assists the department’s Community Policing Sergeant in coordinating the activities of the unsworn security officers who patrol TCNJ’s student housing.
Officer Matthew Mastrosimone volunteered to be the first officer to perform this function. Using the above position description, Officer Mastrosimone has created the department’s most valuable Community Policing tool. Matt has forged relationships across departmental lines, and has been enthusiastically received by the students. He continues to look for new and creative ways to reach out to the campus community and strengthen the department’s bonds on campus.
• He is regularly approached by student groups, such as sororities, to provide crime prevention programs in residence hall lounges, and to become involved in student sponsored activities.
• Matt has taken it upon himself to organize activities such as police-student basketball games, police teams that compete in student fun activities, such as a full-size cardboard boat race, and police participation in educational events on campus such as TCNJ’s annual alcohol-free festival, “Lollanobooza.”
• In the summer of 2009, Matt received RAD training and began giving RAD classes in the residence lounges on weekends. He recently expanded his schedule of sessions for the spring semester to include weeknight classes on evenings that are known as “party nights”, to provide students with another healthy alternative on those nights.
• He worked tirelessly to promote a recent joint Campus Police – NJ State Police gang awareness presentation and was credited with motivating nearly one hundred students to attend.
• When the students left campus at the end of this academic year, they donated their used furniture to the needy through a new program called “Moving Forward, Giving Back”, sponsored by TCNJ’s Town And College Together (TACT) committee, and coordinated by Officer Mastrosimone.
Officer Mastrosimone’s initiative and enthusiasm exemplify Community Policing at its best.
He was nominated by Chief John Collins, College of New Jersey Campus Police.
