FPS

Fremont Entities Hold Active Shooter Training Exercise

Fremont, Neb. – (Jul. 15, 2022) On Thursday, July 21, Fremont Emergency Response Units will be participating in an active shooter training exercise at Fremont Middle School. The training will take place from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. Access to Fremont Drive will be limited during this time. This training exercise will be held as a cooperative effort between the Fremont Police Department, Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, Nebraska State Patrol, Fremont Fire and Rescue Department, Methodist Fremont Health and Dodge County REACT, Dodge County Emergency Management, Fremont/Dodge County Communications and Fremont Public Schools. 

The active shooter training will take place from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. The Fremont Public Schools reunification training exercise will take place from 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm. 

Access to the Splash Station from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm will be limited to those attending swim lessons and workers.  Individuals desiring to access Johnson Lake Park should park in the Fremont Public Schools soccer field parking lot or enter by walking. There will be no access to the Middle School Parking lot during the morning hours.  The public is asked to stay off school grounds during this training exercise.

Fremont Police Chief Jeff Elliot is leading the active shooter training and Kevin Kavan, FPS Safety and Security Coordinator has organized and is leading the reunification training. The two along with representatives from the other agencies have been planning this event for several weeks. This training is the first of its kind in this area to include all of the agencies that would be involved during a real-life event. 

“Recent events around the Country have heightened everyone’s awareness of the potential for these kinds of activities to take place.  We continue to learn from our training and others experiences. This training exercise gives us an opportunity to practice/experience a response we hope and pray we will never have to experience,” stated Sergeant Dustin Weitzel, Dodge County Sheriff’s department.

“Our Schools have been engaged in drills for a number of years with a variety of circumstances,” shared Kevin Kavan. “This past year FPS students and staff participated in over 200 drills including fire, tornado, bus evacuation, lockdown and lockout, we have conducted table-top exercises on active shooter and reunification – this training exercise allows us to see how the planning will work in practice.”

In the fall of 2018 a student brought what appeared to be a handgun into the Fremont High School at the end of the school day and displayed it to several students.  The students immediately reported it to the administration and authorities were called.  Within minutes the high school was in lockdown with over 35 first responders on the scene and within the building. The gun turned out to be an airsoft 9mm replica.  Chief Elliot recalls, “that evening we had a real life event that required an immediate response.  In the end no one was in peril. During the event and the post event briefing, attended by all agencies involved, an insight into what we did well and what we certainly should have done differently was discussed – we learned from that experience and are incorporating that learning into our training exercise next week.” 

“Fremont is a unique community in that our local agencies cooperate to serve the public in so many ways,” stated Mark Shepard superintendent of schools.  “This cooperative effort has been evident in recent events like the flood of 2019 and the pandemic – leveraging these experiences and relationships to create a safer environment for the community is the goal of this training exercise.”