Police and City of Cortez collaborate on active shooter training – The Journal

A school shooting drill was held at City Hall on Wednesday to prepare staff for a possible school shooting scenario. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Codner)

The CPD played out a realistic shooting scenario with city employees

At the request of City Manager Drew Sanders, the Cortez Police Department organized and conducted a school shooting drill at City Hall on Wednesday. The drill came 20 days after the school shooting incident that occurred at the skate park across from City Hall on Independence Day.

“The training is an important step toward emergency response and community preparation,” said city spokeswoman Kelly Codner.

The exercise was led by Police Lt. Angelo Martinez, assisted by Sergeant Brent Jarmon, Kurtiss Baumgartner and Koby Guttridge. This team developed operational plans and demonstrated the firing range and active shooter training.

Members of the Cortez Police Department responded as if there was an active shooter outside City Hall. (Kelly Codner/Courtesy photo)

The exercise began around 1:30 p.m. A city employee who identified himself as the suspected shooter entered City Hall accompanied by Jarmon and fired blanks inside the building.

The remaining city employees called 911 and practiced the run, hide and fight training they had received. They were encouraged to view the training as a real-life scenario, Codner said.

Montezuma-Cortez’s emergency dispatch center received the calls and announced that shots had been fired. They requested that officers and emergency responders come to City Hall, emphasizing that the call was a drill and not a real shooting.

Four staff members played the roles of victims and some were given scripts in which their characters were injured in the shooting so that the emergency responders on the scene could act according to the injury sheets.

“The City of Cortez Human Resources Director, Matt Cashner, was told he would not survive his fatal injuries. This was done to downplay the situation but also to emphasize the importance of the potential fatalities in events of this nature,” Codner said.

Four city employees were chosen to play characters injured in training. (Kelly Codner/Courtesy photo)

The aim of the training was to prepare employees for emergency situations and teach them how to best deal with the panic that can arise in such an emergency scenario. Employees were able to practice staying calm, reacting quickly, planning an escape route, finding hiding places and finding out what items are available to them in the event of a fight for survival.

“Safety exercises like this allow multiple teams to collaborate, identify problems and refine protocols, leading to better coordination during real emergencies,” Codner concluded.

Participating agencies were Cortez City Hall, Cortez Police Department, Cortez Fire Protection District, Montezuma-Cortez Operations Center, Montezuma County Emergency Management Agency, Southwest Health System EMS, and the Community Intervention Program team.

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