On Tuesday, April 3, 2018 members from UMass Amherst Emergency Operations Center Team, Amherst Police and Fire Departments, Hadley Police and Fire Departments and a representative from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Academic Engagement participated in a tabletop exercise to provide participants an opportunity to evaluate the current emergency response concepts, departmental and campus plans and capabilities when responding to and recovering from an active threat incident on campus.

DHS is launching a new offering, an Exercise Starter Kit, for Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), and UMass Amherst was asked to serve as a “beta tester” for one of the kits’ scenarios.  The purpose of the Exercise Starter Kit is to provide IHEs with a pre-developed TTX package with templates for the Situation Manual, Facilitator Guide, and Conduct Briefing slide deck that can be used for the exercise. Participation in the roll-out of this program holds a benefit for DHS OAE with valuable feedback on the new program and its content, and also value for the UMass Amherst EOC Team in offering another training opportunity with an active threat scenario.