Situation:

While agencies and organizations within the Cook County regions have trained on active threat preparedness and response, there has been little integration of the whole community to discuss each agencies’ and organizations’ role within preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Need:

Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) requested the development of a cohort-based training that would integrate multiple stakeholders from a single region to participate in a training and workshop.

Solution:

Hagerty developed a two-and-a-half-day active threat preparedness training that integrated the whole community. This training was developed to include lecture and activity for the day 1 and day 2, while the last half-day included a hands-on training on how to response to an active threat event that included real-world simulation. The training incorporated six components of active threat preparedness including behavioral awareness, threat assessment, protective measures, complex incident management, tactical response, and recovery. Following each component’s lecture there was an activity for all participants.

Outcome:

At the training, over 40 participants from agencies and organizations, including the City’s various departments such as the city’s managers office, health and human services, parks and recreation, public works, police, and fire; hospitals; houses of worship; schools and universities; movie theaters; daycare facilities; and nonprofit organizations, worked together to identify plans, policies, and procedures; resources; and services within their organization and community that can aid the preparedness, mitigation, response, or recovery efforts of an active threat event.