Dutchess County Prepares for Active Shooter Incident

Sworn police officers from throughout Dutchess County and surrounding areas are participating in a large training initiative to prepare for an active shooter incident. The training is being spearheaded by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office in cooperation with the Town of Poughkeepsie Police, City of Poughkeepsie Police, New York State Police, Dutchess County Law Enforcement Academy, Dutchess County Association of Chiefs of Police and the Arlington Central School District.

“An ‘active shooter incident’ is one in which one or more individuals are seeking to kill and injure as many people as possible in as short a time as possible,” said Captain Gerard Lennon who also serves as President of the Dutchess County Association of Chiefs of Police. “Our goal in this training is to equip as many police officers as possible with the latest tactics to handle any tragedy.”

Starting in the last week of April, 2016 and continuing through to the third week of May, 2016, up to 12 officers are going through realistic scenario-based training daily. An instructional cadre consisting of nearly a dozen facilitators from the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Town of Poughkeepsie Police and City of Poughkeepsie Police are delivering the training. This training strives to improve individual officer tactics as well as inter-agency teamwork and communication to mitigate an active shooter incident.

Members of the media and government leaders are invited to observe this training on Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at the former Arthur S. May School located at 25 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Please contact Deputy Jillian Hanlon at 845-486-3886 to confirm your attendance.

For additional information, please contact Sergeant Shawn Castano at (845) 240-8069.