The University Police Department at Buffalo State College offers a variety of safety training programs available to all students and faculty to make sure they are prepared for various emergencies.

One of the programs is an active shooter training. The training involves UPD officers going through a vivid PowerPoint and video for participants to learn how to be safe in an active shooter situation.

Lieutenant Richard Myers of the Buffalo State University Police notes that this training session can range from 15 minutes to two hours depending on the availability of the participants.

For those interested in taking part in this session, it’s recommended to get a group of people together to take part in the simulation. The more people that can be educated for times of emergency, the better.

“We have already had the History Department and the Fine Arts Program in Rockwell take part in the training,” Myers said.

Various organizations on campus are more than welcome to apply for a training session to keep their organization informed on how to remain safe. To sign up for a training session, simply fill out an Educational Program Request Form on UPD’s website. In addition, give UPD at least two weeks’ notice of when you would like to do the program.

Some larger groups have taken part in an actual active shooter simulation hosted by University Police. This drill takes much longer to plan and is very complex. “This drill needs at least 10 officers, an empty building, and a lot of time to coordinate and plan the entire simulation,” Myers said.

For UPD to organize this drill, there must be a large group interest and plenty of notice to have time for preparation. Ideal times for this simulation to be set up is either during the winter break or over the summer when residence halls and other buildings are empty for the most part.

This simulation is very insightful and helpful and is recommended for people. If a large group of people show interest for this simulation, they can go talk to Lieutenant Myers from UPD to inquire more information on how a drill could possibly be coordinated.

For those that just want a safety training course, you can visit police.buffalostate.edu and look under educational programs for more options.

There are other training programs, such as Drug Abuse Prevention, Conflict Communication, Self Defense Rape Aggression Defense and more. To request a training session for any of these programs, simply fill out the request form listed on the website and submit it either digitally or physically to UPD.