Edmonton police carrying out active shooter training exercise Wednesday

I am fuming! I came across this article on Facebook this morning at around 7:53 am.

Cora Shaw commented on her own post. Oct 19, 2016 7:53am

Edmonton police carrying out active shooter training exercise Wednesday glbn.ca Thank you. Man they really need to give more warning than this. Started at 5:30, just happened to wake up because of Leo. Otherwise I wouldn't have known.

The Active Shooters training started at 5:30 am. This was the first I had heard about it. EPS is doing the training in the following areas:

• Rogers Place (downtown 104 ave between 101 street and 104 st)
• City Hall ( down the street from Rogers Place)
• Commonwealth Stadium

I understand that the training needs to be done but we also need to look at who is in the community. We have the homeless that use services in the downtown core near Rogers Place as well as close to City Hall. there are a numer of office towers in the area, as well as a City Centre Mall. 

Also a lot of refugees have made their homes in the communities surround the areas that have the train happening. Most of these refugees have come from war torn countries, so often they are dealing with PTSD and other issues stemming from being in war. 

From 

Edmonton PoliceVerified account

@edmontonpolice

Edmonton Police ‏@edmontonpolice  2h

2 hours ago

Reminder: #EPS is running active shooter training today @RogersPlace , City Hall & Commonwealth Stadium until 2:30pm. Avoid the areas. #yeg

0 replies70 retweets12 likes

 

 

 

1. Edmonton Police ‏@edmontonpolice  4h4 hours ago

   EMS, EFD & security will also be present in the areas. You may hear loud bangs & shouting. Do NOT call 911, as EPS will be on location. #yeg

   0 replies41 retweets17 likes

    

    

    
2. Edmonton Police ‏@edmontonpolice  4h4 hours ago

   #EPS is running active shooter training today @RogersPlace, City Hall & Commonwealth Stadium until 2:30pm. Avoid the training areas. #yeg

   0 replies91 retweets33 likes

    

    
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Not alot of warning, with the first post being at 5:00 am. They ask that you do not call 911 however not everyone is on social media. Global did a story but it actually wasn't on the morning news when I turned it on at 7 (when I woke up).

Ok, I get City Hall, I don't understand why Commonwealth Stadium or Rogers Place. If we have an active shooter in the city, it would make sense to protect the Alberta Legislature or Refinery Row, especially if terror related. Even City Centre Mall makes sense as it is accessible to the public.

I will be writing a letter to the Police Commission as to voice my concerns on this and how it has been approached.


This work by Cora Shaw is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License.