Nokomis Community Unit School District #22 Nokomis Police Department Nokomis Area Fire Protection District Nokomis Witt Area Ambulance Service August 19, 2022 Nokomis Community Unit District #22 will conduct an active shooter response exercise on September 2, 2022 to allow the district personnel and emergency response agencies to demonstrate response actions for any event that may occur in the Nokomis Community Unit School District. The exercise will occur between the hours of 1:00 PM and 4:30 PM in vicinity of the North Elementary School. No students will be present for the exercise other than some volunteer emergency medical services junior volunteers. “The public will see a large amount of emergency response vehicles in the area of the North Elementary School,” stated Dr. Scott Doerr, Nokomis Community Unit District #22 Superintendent, “These exercises are part of a comprehensive planning and preparedness strategy that we have developed in the district to be sure we are ready for any event that may happen.” Nokomis Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Nokomis Witt Area Ambulance Service, Nokomis Area Fire Protection District and Fillmore Fire Protection District along with mutual aid agencies will be part of the response for the event. “Recent events throughout this country and in Illinois only serve to help us to understand how important it is for us to be prepared for any event that may happen,” said Nokomis Police Chief Talon Burton. Nokomis Police Department and other law enforcement agencies routinely train on school violence situations in the county. “This event allows us to work with other response agencies in the Nokomis Area including fire and EMS, to increase overall preparedness to any type of event that might affect our schools,” said Chief Burton. Emergency Medical Services and Fire Response agencies will also participate in the drill. Nokomis Witt Area Ambulance Services Chief Travis Hocq emphasized, “We’re glad to be involved in this type of exercise as this allows us to work closely with law enforcement to improve our response time in a critical event.” Nokomis Area Fire Protection District Chief Mike Smalley said, “It’s important for our fire department to be involved in this with our medical and law enforcement partners as we are a support agency in this type of event. We need to expand our capabilities in order to better serve the citizens.” Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency will serve in a support role in the exercise and the drone team will support the response operation as well. Weather permitting, Arch and Air Evac Medical services will participate in the exercise as well. “In addition to the immediate response, we will test our abilities to re-unify students with care-givers and we will develop some action plans that will look not only at this part of the response, but also what will be happening in the days after such an event,” stated Dr. Doerr. “So please don’t be alarmed by the number of response agencies, equipment, and personnel that you see around the school on the afternoon of September 2, it’s something that are doing to help us better protect our staff and students.”