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Police and fire chiefs urge annual regional active‑shooter training; cost estimated at about $20,000 per exercise
Summary
Police and fire chiefs told the select boards joint training for schools and regional mutual‑aid partners should be done annually and funded regionally. Chiefs estimated roughly $10,000 per department per exercise (police and fire) and suggested seeking legislative or grant support to avoid straining individual municipal budgets.
Police and fire chiefs at the Nov. 3 joint meeting recommended annual regional active‑shooter exercises for the school district and mutual‑aid towns, stressing preparedness and the need for integrated multi‑agency drills. Chiefs described the event as planning- and overtime‑intensive and estimated a ballpark cost of about $10,000 for police and $10,000 for fire for a multi‑day exercise, putting a combined estimate near $20,000 per training iteration.
Chiefs said that mutual‑aid jurisdictions respond together in an incident and that joint exercises better prepare all responders. They asked the select boards to pursue grant, legislative or outside funding to make training sustainable rather than shifting recurring costs to local operating budgets. Lakeville and Freetown officials said they could consider using free cash or building a recurring appropriation into future budgets if outside funding is not available.
Ending: Board members asked administrators to investigate potential grant or legislative routes and to involve chiefs in scoping training participants and schedules.
