South Georgia Tech hosts “active shooter” training drill

October 7, 2016

South Georgia Tech Assistant to the President Don Smith with Campus Safety Coordinator for the Technical College System of Georgia Donna Burns and Sumter Emergency Management Systems Director Nigel Poole are shown together after the wrap-up for the “active shooter” drill on the South Georgia Tech campus.

Approximately 90 different individuals from over 10 different organizations participated in an “active shooter” training drill on the South Georgia Technical College Americus campus recently.
“I would like to thank all of the different agencies and individuals who took part in the planning and implementation of this drill,” said South Georgia Technical College Dr. John Watford. “In the world in which we live today, we have to be prepared for a worst case scenario and that is what today has been about. We are conducting this drill in the hopes that something like this never happens.”
Individuals from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, Sumter County Fire and Rescue, Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, Americus Police Department, Americus Fire Department, Macon County Emergency Management Association, Middle Flint Regional 911, Gold Star EMS, the Americus Global Information Systems Department, Sumter County Emergency Management Office, South Georgia Tech, Georgia Southwestern State University, and other local law enforcement, safety, and first response organizations participated in the drill. South Georgia Tech’s Jets and Lady Jets basketball players volunteered to serve as the victims for the drill.
Donna Burns, Campus Safety Coordinator for the Technical College System of Georgia, attended the drill. She explained that all of the colleges within the Technical College System of Georgia are required to host an “active shooter” training drill.
South Georgia Technical College Assistant to the President Don Smith and SGTC Campus Safety Director Sammy Stone were the campus coordinators of the exercise and worked with each of the entities to plan the drill. “The greatest thing to come out of this exercise was the cooperation of all of the individuals that would be involved in the event of a tragedy,” said Smith. “We had every agency represented and working together to solve a crisis situation and that is tremendous to have that type of support from law enforcement and emergency personnel.”
SGTC Campus Safety Director Sammy Stone also thanked all of the individuals for their support and for participating in the drill. Members of the South Georgia Technical College Law Enforcement Academy also assisted by securing the campus entrances during the drill.

Over 10 different area agencies participated in the drill.

South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford thanks the different agencies involved for participating and planning the active shooter drill on the SGTC Americus campus recently.