Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Tabletop Exercise Sexual Assault/Multiple Incidents Division for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Institutional Research

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Rules of the Road  Creativity/Group Problem Solving  Use the knowledge and information available in the room  Active Thinking  Active Listening  Active Participation  Respect – challenge ideas, not people  Reality Check – make the exercise real for you

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Agenda  Introductions  Scenario  Description  Hot Wash (Debrief)  Action Planning

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Introductions

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu The Exercise Continuum  Drills  Tabletop Exercises  Functional Exercises  Full-Scale Exercises

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu What is a tabletop exercise?  Simulates an emergency situation in an informal, stress-free environment  Initiates discussion of emergency guidelines  Focuses on training and familiarization with roles, guidelines, and responsibilities

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu How does a tabletop exercise work?  Scenario-based discussion, guided by a facilitator  Problems talked through without stress  Evaluators selected to observe and offer feedback on the proceedings  Policies, plans, and guidelines are updated

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu What determines the success of a tabletop?  A successful tabletop leaves participants with:  A positive learning experience  Organizational learning  Improvement action planning  More effective policies, plans, and guidelines  Improved preparedness

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Exercise Guidelines  This exercise is designed to test the preparedness of the _____ to respond to a multi-agency, multi-site emergency event.  Following the exercise, there will be a debriefing time or “Hot Wash”.  Each participant will be given the opportunity to share his/her views on what worked well and what needs to be addressed in additional planning, training and/or drilling.

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Exercise Guidelines (Continued)  _____ISD/college policy shall govern all activities relating to the emergency event.  The facilitator shall serve as the exercise referee and will provide any official interpretation of the exercise rules.  Although we will not actually be contacting them, ISD/college and outside resources are available to assist you.

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Exercise Guidelines (Continued)  From time to time, there will be injections to the scenario. These are intended to further assess response to the exercise scenario.  This is a learning experience.

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Purpose  To examine current policies, procedures, resources and actions in the context to a response to multiple sexual assaults in a college setting  To promote greater understanding and ability to apply NIMS/ICS principles in a college setting  To make improvements as identified as an outcome of the exercise

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Objectives  To evaluate policies and procedures  To evaluate command and control including communications procedures  To identify resources needed vs. available  To identify training needs  To identify needed improvements and create an action plan to address those needs

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Demographic Overview  On this slide, add bullets of information about the demographics of your college, including but not limited to:  Number of schools/facilities  Types of schools/facilities  Athletic facilities  Student population  Employee population

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu First Responder Resource Overview  On this slide, add bullets of information about the first responder resources immediately available to your college, including but not limited to:  Police  Fire  EMS

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Threat Assessment  On this slide, add bullets of information about the known threats to your college, including but not limited to:  Internal threats  External threats

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Scenario  A female student reported a “suspicious” man walking though the residence hall at night. She said he was an “Anglo male” wearing a green jacket and blue jeans.  A second female student reported a man of similar description “wandering” through a classroom building during evening hours. She reported that he didn’t seem to be going anywhere and that he was staring at her.

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Questions  What do you need to know?  How do you find the information?  What are you going to do?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Scenario – Inject 1 (one day later)  A female staff member reported that while walking to her car after work, a man exposed himself to her  Her description of the man was similar to the earlier description given in the last two complaints  She got in her car and left the parking lot without further incident

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Questions  What do you need to know?  How do you find the information?  What are you going to do?  What are the police/security SOPs?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Scenario – Inject 2 (two days later)  A female commuter student was sexually assaulted in the restroom of a classroom facility  During the attack she was struck several times by the attacker  After the attack the student crawled out to the main hallway where she was discovered by a facilities employee

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Questions  What do you need to know?  How do you find the information?  What does your EOP direct?  What are you going to do?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Scenario – Inject 3  In addition to the sexual assault, the student suffered a broken nose and several bruises and lacerations  The student was taken to the hospital where biological evidence was collected  The suspect wore a ski mask and gloves but was described as a male between the age of  The outside media, student media, student body, faculty and staff want information

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Questions  What actions will you take?  What does your EOP dictate?  What is your ICS structure?  What steps will you take to address the media?  What public information will be released?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu ICS Structure Questions  Who is the Incident Commander?  Who is the Public Information Officer?  Who is the Liaison Officer?  Who is the Operations Chief?  What other ICS positions will you activate and who will fill them?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Scenario – Inject 4 (two days later)  A female student reports that she was grabbed from behind as she walked across campus at night  She defended herself by back kicking the assailant in the shins. He released her. She fled to the student center and called campus police/security  She did not see her attacker except that he wore black leather gloves

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Questions  What do you need to know?  How do you find the information?  What does your EOP direct?  What is your ICS team going to do?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Situational Report  The campus community is fearful  The local press wants information  The student who was sexually assaulted has retained a civil attorney  A suspect was arrested by campus/local police during a surveillance operation of campus parking lots

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Questions  What do you need to know?  How do you find the information?  What does your EOP direct?  What is your ICS team going to do?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Hot Wash  What can be done to improve campus police/security operations?  What internal divisions were required to work together in this scenario?  What external agencies did the Liaison Officer need to work with in this scenario?  Are all necessary agreements in place to facilitate cooperation among agencies?

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Action Plan The lessons learned during this table top exercise will lead to a college action plan to:  Keep Doing _____  Stop Doing _____  Start Doing _____

Texas School Safety Centerwww.txssc.txstate.edu Conclusion The Texas School Safety Center, Division for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Institutional Research is available for:  Training/Facilitation  Technical Assistance  Information

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