Crime & Safety

Active Shooter Training At Closed Elementary School in Plymouth

The Plymouth Police will conduct active shooter response training for the second weekend in a row at the empty school.

Though Pilgrim Lane Elementary School is no longer open to students for this weekend it is the scene of a different learning opportunity.

The Plymouth Police Department is conducting an active shooter training on the site in Plymouth.

"Active shooter training is designed to prepare our staff to respond, identify and stop an active shooter from creating more victims," said Plymouth Deputy Chief and Professional Standards Commander Dan Plekkenpol. "We have been engaged in active shooter response training for over a decade. We incorporate some facet of active shooter response into our department and firearms training on an annual basis."

Find out what's happening in Plymouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The department doesn't always use school facilities, he said. 

"This year we did have the availability of Pilgrim Lane Elementary, which is currently not being used by the Robbinsdale School District," Plekkenpol said. 

Find out what's happening in Plymouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Recently, the Plymouth Police Department has embraced a new concept in active shooter response called "integrated active shooter response."

"Our officers are still actively locating and engaging the shooting suspect while other groups of officers coordinate with the fire department and emergency medical services to remove victims and potential victims from an established safe zone," Plekkenpol said. "This training is and has been done to ensure our staff can effectively end an active shooter event as quick as possible with the least amount of injury or death." 

This is not a training that Plymouth officers just got into because "it may be the vogue across the country at the time, but a training that we have embraced for an extended period of time," he said.

Those living around the Pilgrim Lane Elementary School should not be alarmed to see officers and emergency personnel from North Memorial Ambulance Service in the area during Saturday, Aug. 10 training. 

Signs will be posted outside the building when everything is going on. Street entrances to the building and parking lot will have barricades to restrict access of anyone but authorized personnel.

Most of the training is inside the school, but you may catch a glimpse of training exercises outside including officers with simulation weapons.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Plymouth