GRCC emergency training exercise brought together campus and community partners to focus on safety

Grand Rapids Community College conducted an emergency training exercise on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022 as part of ongoing efforts to protect the safety of college students, employees and community members.

The effort, conducted between 8 a.m. and noon, was a functional exercise, which is a mix of action pieces and table top discussion.

The purpose of the exercise was to evaluate actions against the current response plans and capabilities of an active shooter response.

Participants included the City of Grand Rapids, Kent County and State of Michigan Offices of Emergency Management, the Grand Rapids Police and Fire Departments, Kent County Emergency Medical Services, multiple EMS companies, representatives from area hospitals, and other area emergency responders.

All members of the GRCC executive leadership team, along with other members of the emergency management team, academic leadership, and a cross section of campus departments were represented. This exercise was announced one day prior and signs were placed on all campus entrances the day of the event.

Specific objectives were established by the planning team, and included executive leadership’s understanding of roles and responsibilities; testing of the GRCC emergency notification systems; testing the external door lockdown system; ensuring coordination of response between all involved agencies; coordination of regional stockpile of EMS supplies and ability to deploy resources; and the coordination of the public information dissemination between city authorities and the institution.

External evaluators were present to observe and provide feedback about the objectives. That information is being reviewed and will be included in the final after-action report. 

The RAVE and Emergency Phone Alert System notifications functioned properly, as did the lock down of the entire campus.

The discussion was comprehensive and provided considerable guidance from all responding agencies as to their roles and capability as well as their expectations if a critical incident should occur.

As required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Safety and Security Policy and Statistics Act, all information related to GRCC’s emergency response and evacuations plans can be found on the GRCC Police web page under Resources.

If you have additional questions about this exercise or GRCC’s emergency response plans, you can contact Police Chief Rebecca Whitman at 616-234-4010.