First responders participate in safety drill

The safety exercise was held at the Columbia High School’s football stadium from 8 a.m. - noon.
Published: Mar. 20, 2023 at 6:08 PM CDT|Updated: Mar. 20, 2023 at 6:18 PM CDT

COLUMBIA, Miss. (WDAM) - On Monday, the Columbia Police Department and other first responders put their safety skills to the test in a public safety exercise simulating a bomb threat at Columbia High School.

CPD Chief Michael Kelly said they look for failures in the response process during these drills.

“Now, what we are doing is putting all the things we have learned in a full-scale drill, and we are looking for failures,” said Kelly. “We want to make a bad grade because when we find those points of failure, then we can use the time now until next football season or we can take our lessons learned and deal with a crisis anywhere else in the city.”

Kelly said the drill started as an active shooter scenario in which the team had two primary objectives: stop the killing and stop the dying.

With about 150 people involved in the drill, Kelly said it’s crucial to practice these real-life situations as often as possible.

“It’s been about two years since we have done a full-scale drill, so we try to do it every year, so we want to put some measures in place so we can save as many lives as possible,” Kelly said.

The safety exercise was held at the Columbia High School’s football stadium from 8 a.m.- noon.

According to Kelly, the drill was also attended by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Columbia Fire Department, AAA Ambulance Service, Clinton Police Department bomb unit, Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and Mississippi State Department of Health.

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