RVCC Hostage Drill Aims to Boost Response
By Annette Novoa

Thursday,  May 23, Professor Ellen Lindemann of the RVCC Business Department found herself locked in a classroom with three armed men holding her and her students hostage.

Although the incident was staged as part of a Somerset County Law Enforcement security drill, it felt real enough to volunteers like Lindemann.

“You never knew what was going to happen next,” she said, even though the volunteers were told what to expect and were permitted to see the training rifles beforehand. Still, they grew increasingly excited and tense. “Part of your brain is saying 'what if this was real?,'” she said. The perpetrators used class posters and papers to cover up windows and doors. “It was very realistic and unnerving to have SWAT team members pointing guns and rifles your way, albeit they were training rifles.”

Among the volunteers was Lindemann's teenage son, who portrayed a gunshot victim. Police academy trainees acted as RVCC students in designated classrooms and as first responders. A sniper was in place on the rooftop of the West Building.

The hostage negotiations were intense. “Our lives where only connected by a telephone line,” said Lindeman.

The drill was a collaboration between area municipalities and the college aimed at improving the response to an actual threat or emergency at RVCC. Lindemann chose to participate as a learning experience, because, she said, in this kind of situation, “I don’t know what to do.”

Inside West, designated hallways were marked off by orange cones as groups of SWAT team members huddled together close to the classroom door. Others were stationed on the rooftop of an adjacent building pointing their rifles towards the classroom windows and reporting on the activities inside. While the hostage negotiator spoke, SWAT members remained silent and alert. 

John Trojan, RVCC vice president of Facilities, and Deputy Chief Andrew Hissim of the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office spent six months planning and coordinating the drill. Hissim estimates that about 300 members of local law enforcement groups participating, iincluding Primary Incident Command and Control Branchburg Police & K-9 Unit, Somerset County Emergency Response Team and police officers from surrounding towns. More than 50 North Plainsfield SWAT members on hand, as were Somerset Hospital paramedics. Had the situation been real, he said, responders would likely include law enforcement agencies from Hunterdon and Union counties.

According to Trojan, there were about 800 students and faculty on campus for the drill, which was also used to test the college's updated emergency notification system. Automatic voice messages were sent to student’s home phones and cell phones and emails to college addresses were sent providing instructions. Prior to the actual event, letters were sent to students enrolled ahead of the drill and notices were posted in every building.

Still, to the casual observer, the men dressed in full gear were an intimidating sight. Students who were not part of the drill generally avoided those areas or quickly and nervously walked passed them.

Swat Team Commander Ed Ciempola said the overall goal of the exercise was to test hostage negotiation preparedness and  rehearse prevention and planning techniques that might better protect RVCC students and faculty and the community at large. Helicopters provided aerial views of the operation for later evaluation. Debriefing was held in campus conference rooms.

Members of the county Office of Emergency Services observed the activities and would later evaluate the response of the law enforcement community and of RVCC staff.

Safety and Facilities Manager Reinhold Woykowski  monitored campus security staff responses during the drill, evaluating “how they handle the emergency notification and proper calls to local police."

According to business professor Lindemann, the drill was a “fabulous experience for the college.”

Even so, it may have been both the first and last of it's kind at RVCC. Trojan, “In the future we will likely do a table top discussion," said Trojan, working out hypothetical scenarios verbally, rather than acting them out.

photo by Annette Novoa