A Drill or not a Drill

There was mayhem at the office yesterday.

The Onondaga Sheriff's office in coordination with Syracuse University Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement and public safety officials successfully diffused a hostage situation, with only one injury, right outside our doors. Our only saving grace was the orange sign with an "X" that signaled we were not to be involved.

Around 10 am, we heard shots fired and two men wandered the third floor halls, right in front of our office, with guns reigning terror upon Hinds Hall, Syracuse University. Luckily, they were successfully apprehended in under an hour as a helicopter descended onto the quad in front of Hendricks Chapel to rescue an injured woman.

The location of ICS headquarters on the main campus of Syracuse University always brings about some interesting days. Drew recently wrote about our delicious ventures to Marshall Street which boasts of cuisine from all over the world and previously I've written about the fine attempts to apprehend the Hinds Hall Burglar, but this really took the cake.

Every year various law enforcement and public safety agencies coordinate at Syracuse University to hold a massive drill involving actors and public officials who put on a good show for the journalism master's students who are required to write about it as "disaster reporting training."

Last year, they invaded some South Campus apartments, set a car on fire and held a few students hostage. A guy even got tasered.

This year, they landed a helicopter on the quad and cut a car to pieces with the jaws of life, just for demonstration.

We were given advanced notice of the drill, so shots being fired were not really a surprise and the office as a whole elected to opt-out of participating so we could get more work done for our clients. (Personally, I thought it would have been great to have some fun and pretend to be held hostage, but I guess it's not what I get paid to do...shucks).

It's certainly interesting here on campus when most of the students are gone for the summer.

--Kate