FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine— On Jan. 26-30, the U.S. Border Patrol and law enforcement agencies in Maine will be conducting training exercises on Active Shooter Response at the Fort Fairfield Border Patrol Station in Fort Fairfield, Maine. The joint training will assist agents and officers in familiarizing themselves with response protocol and procedures during an emergency.
Border Patrol and Air Interdiction agents participate in a joint full-scale active shooter response training in Maine.
While the Fort Fairfield building will provide law enforcement a realistic environment, at no time will this scenario based training be conducted near residential areas or include any civilian staff.
“If a real world active shooter situation arises, it is imperative for the law enforcement community to work together as one team in combining their skills, knowledge and assets to resolve such a critical situation,” said Acting Patrol Agent In Charge John Bonner, Fort Fairfield Border Patrol Station. “It is paramount that all law enforcement communities have well trained and experienced law enforcement to engage the active shooter and extract any possible victims.”
There will be five sessions of this one day training course with each officer completing instruction and practical exercises that utilize the concepts and principals of Active Shooter Response and stress the importance of recognizing officer’s limitations. Training will cover specialized topics, such as how to move as a team in order to isolate, distract, and neutralize the Active Shooter, as well as address when to move directly to the threat and when to proceed in a slow and deliberate manner.
The full-scale Active Shooter Training is being sponsored by Houlton Sector and instructed by agents from the Fort Fairfield Border Patrol Station. Local law enforcement agencies will be training with Border Patrol agents as a way to develop and reinforce pre-existing relationships and interoperable communications between agencies.
At the conclusion of this realistic training, a formal debriefing session with all participants and instructors alike will note successes, mistakes, and most importantly, lessons learned. All of which will only benefit law enforcement and first responders in safely responding to possible Active Shooter incidents in our communities.