Tabletop Exercise Grayson County College Bomb Threat Incident Tabletop Exercise Grayson County College

Monday, March 23 It’s the first class day after spring break. It’s a dark, cold morning with moderate rains forecast for much of the morning and afternoon. Students are hurrying to their classes to avoid the rainfall. Neither the GCC President nor the Vice President of Student Service is on campus this week. The president is out on vacation until next Monday, and the VPSS is attending a conference in Austin through Wednesday.

8:30 AM A college custodian finds a note taped to the wall of the men’s restroom on the second floor of the Learning Resource Center. The custodian immediately removes the note and takes it to the campus police office. At the police office, the custodian shows the note to the campus police clerk.

8:30 AM The note says, “There is a bomb in this building. It will detonate by 10AM causing mass destruction at Grayson County College.” The police clerk notifies the campus officer on duty and calls the Airport Fire Department to respond to the main campus.

Discussion Base your answers on the Emergency Operations Plan currently in place Who’s in charge of response? What actions should be taken next? Who should be notified? Should the campus be completely evacuated? If so, how will the campus population be notified? If the decision is to close the campus, who’s authorized to do so? What steps should be taken to resume classes and when?

10:30 AM The Airport FD and Grayson County SO sniffing dog has mobilized and responded. Buildings have been evacuated, and faculty, staff, and students have been asked to leave the campus. All vehicle entry points have been barricaded. After Investigation, no explosion occurs.

Discussion What did you do to try to determine if this was a credible threat? How was your ICS activated? Who was involved in response? Did the absence of the president and VPSS influence the decision-making process? How? Do you feel that you have you over- or under-reacted to this threat? Why? This threat did not result in an explosion. Would this experience influence your response to a similar threat in the future?

10:45 AM AFD & GCSO have departed, but Campus Police & local reporters remain on campus finishing their interviews. Suddenly, a buried explosive detonates in the flowerbed in front of the LRC.

10:45 AM It’s a relatively small explosion but the noise is considerable. No one is injured, and the damage is relatively minor.

Discussion What might happen with the media at this point? Who responds? Should AFD and GCSO return to campus? Who decides? How will you inform students about the incident? Will night classes be cancelled?

THINK

Action Steps Gap / Need Who’s Responsible Due to Due by

Action Steps