To prepare for high-risk emergencies, Regina Emergency Medical Services, Regina Fire & Protective Services and the Regina Police Service (RPS) hold an annual joint training exercise at the airport, which took place Tuesday.
“Anytime you can do real-life situations or as close to real-life situations as possible, it enhances our training,” explained RPS Insp. Chris Jackiw.
The training involved simulating a live shooting event at two separate areas of the airport.
“One part took place in our Canada Border Services Agency, and the other part took place in our own Regina Airport Administration offices located on the first floor,” said Regina Airport Authority CEO James Bogusz.
“This gave our first-responding agencies and our own team time to practice in a cordoned-off area that did not impact any airport operations.”
During a training event, Jackiw explained most officers are not armed to ensure no one gets injured.
“We have a safety officer assigned that ensures none of our officers are armed. They have nothing that could injure anybody else. We also have what are called cover officers because they're still police officers in full uniform. We don't want them exposed to a threat without having all their threat responses and use-of-force options.”
The RPS had six members participating from its tactical support team, patrol supervisors and regular patrol units.
Jackiw said the training gives patrol officers a better understanding of how the tactical support team responds to dangerous situations.
“It may not always be our team that comes to these situations, whether it's at a school, a public venue or a mall. You can never predict where these happen, so our patrol members may be first to respond. So, they also need the training, experience and exposure.”
The training also strengthens collaboration between the different first responder agencies, Jackiw said.
“That collaboration between fire and EMS and moving to the next stages to try to do those rescue teams and working on improving that to ensure we get to people as quickly as possible, get them triaged and receive medical attention as soon as possible is key.”
Bogusz said the annual exercises also help maintain strong working relationships among emergency partners.
“We want to keep the partners regularly communicating with the airport, keep those relationships fresh and ensure procedures are up to date."
“And that's all part of doing, whether it be a live simulation or a tabletop simulation.”
