LA MIRADA, CALIF — Campus Safety will co-host an active shooter training drill at Biola University on Wednesday, April 19 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. The multiple victim exercise based on a hypothetical active shooter on campus will include more than 100 officers, moulage victims, and multiple emergency response vehicles to add to the realistic portrayal of an active shooter situation preparing officers for the emotional and physical intensity of an actual active shooter.

It is essential to provide ongoing training to ensure Deputies and University Campus Safety Officers are proficient in handling tactical incidents, with officer and public safety as the primary goal, according to Biola’s Campus Safety Department.

The training instructors will consist of members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Tactics and Survival Training Staff. The training will provide Norwalk Station patrol deputies, Biola University safety officers, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Special Enforcement Bureau with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and tactics in planning for and handling situations involving active shooters at locations with multiple victims.

The exercise will address topics including threat assessment, situational awareness, tactical planning, tactic awareness, force options, multi-agency coordination and rapid response tactics.

The training exercise will be very realistic with alarms, screaming, and simulated gunshot noises and will include:

  • Moulage victims
  • Simunition training weapons
  • Los Angeles Fire Department
  • Emergency Response Vehicles

The exercise will take place in the Grove modulars and a portion of the south campus classrooms at Biola’s main campus at 13800 Biola Ave., La Mirada, Calif. 90638. These buildings, as well as the tennis courts, south soccer field, softball field, and sand volleyball court will be unoccupied during the entire training exercise.

For more information and press access, contact Jenna Loumagne, media relations manager, at (562) 777-4061 or jenna.loumagne@biola.edu.

Biola University ranks as one of the safest communities in the region, according to the low crime rates reported in the 2016 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. La Mirada contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department [LASD] for city law enforcement services.The campus safety department is the primary law enforcement agency on campus and its officers have full police officer powers of arrest while on duty. Chief John Ojeisekhoba, Biola’s campus safety director, has been named Campus Safety Director of the Year by Campus Safety Magazine for his outstanding leadership. Campus crime statistics associated with the federal government's student-right-to-know laws can be found on Biola University's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.