DuPage County Police Agencies Preparing For Next Big 'Incident'
DuPage Preparing For Next Big 'Incident'
(CBS) -- Law enforcement in DuPage County is preparing for the next big protest or shooting.
An Incident Management Assistance Team, or IMAT, will help local police departments in DuPage with the command and control of large-scale events such as an active-shooter situation or big protest.
Oak Brook Deputy Police Chief Jason Cates says the training would have been helpful before a demonstration at McDonald's corporate headquarters last year that saw upwards of one thousand protesters and 139 arrests.
Nearly two dozen officers from 13 municipalities have been training monthly with the DuPage Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management on how to organize the logistics of having so many agencies respond to an incident like the shooting at an Aurora, Colo. cinema.
In a scenario like that, Cates says the focus is on capturing the shooter and caring for victims, so it's difficult to take stock of how many agencies responded and what equipment is available unless there is a protocol in place.
They 18 officers going through the training will hold a drill next month.
