ALLENTOWN – Officers in the Allentown Police Department have joined forces with police officers from throughout western Monmouth County to train for situations they hope will never occur.
The Western Monmouth Active Shooter Training Group is made up of officers from the Allentown, Colts Neck, Englishtown, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro police departments.
A shared services agreement naming Freehold Township as the lead agency has been authorized. A resolution passed by Freehold Township’s governing body states the agreement would be beneficial to each police department in the training group by allowing interagency standardization of active shooter response protocols and by facilitating a rapid response and coordination in the event that officers from multiple agencies may be the first responders in neighboring communities for active shooter incidents.
Allentown Police Detective Anthony Rando, who serves as the public information officer, confirmed the department’s participation and said, “Allentown has attended several hands-on training courses held by the Western Monmouth Active Shooter Training Group.
“We have had several officers attend and are currently in the process of sending all of our officers to the training. Officers who attended the training learned a wealth of knowledge and gained a high level of confidence from being put in high-stress situations. The training sessions are typically in different locations and are different scenarios.
“I think this training is great so all officers can be on the same page and know their part if an incident ever took place. I think different agencies working together is a great thing. I believe all of our law enforcement agencies have the same goals, to serve the community in the highest capacity and to get home safe at the end of the day.
“This training is imperative and being able to learn different training techniques from different law enforcement agencies brings a variety of experience to each training event,” Rando said.
The inaugural training session for the group was held in February at the Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold Township.
Officers from the Western Monmouth Active Shooter Training Group trained alongside officers from the Southern Monmouth Active Shooter Training Group, the FBI Crisis Management Team, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department Mobile Command/Communications Unit and the Freehold Raceway Mall Security Department.
More than 100 law enforcement officers gathered at the regional mall as participants or as trainers. The participants were initially trained on police tactical maneuvers and then took part in scenarios in which they put to use the tactics they had learned, according to Freehold Township Police Lt. Daniel Pasquinucci.