Grand Rapids police train for active shooter situation

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Grand Rapids Police Department trained at Cornerstone University Wednesday for an active shooter situation, just days before former President Donald Trump’s visit.

While GRPD Captain Dave Siver said the training was planned months ago, some of the skills officers exercised and finetuned this week during training can be applied for crowd control during notable visits from politicians.

“Definitely small team tactics,” he said. “Because you see a group of four to five to six officers and they can maintain and handle a lot of work at one time with some training and communication.”

The realistic, scenario-based training included a sound device that mimics the sound of gunshots, officers playing the role of shooting victims and an active shooter hiding in an unknown classroom. The Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards or MCOLES mandates that departments run an active shooter exercise every three years.

“Obviously there’s been failures around the country. Uvalde , clearly one of the big ones,” Siver said. “And then you go to Nashville where they handled it as best as we could have hoped. Obviously, there was loss of life and that’s tragic, but the officers once they got on scene, they handled that very well. So that’s what we want. We want to try to recreate that through realistic, scenario-based training.”

Trump, along with his recently-announced running mate Senator J.D. Vance, are scheduled to visit Grand Rapids Saturday. This comes exactly one week after the former president was wounded during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

Wednesday’s training helped reinforce proper planning and contingency planning for all GRPD officers no matter what the situation is, Siver said.

“The Secret Service is a federal agency, and they have a different charge then we do, but to keep our community safe when we have these big events and obviously West Michigan has become a much more political powerhouse if you will,” he said. “We welcome it. It’s a big ask on our resources, but we handle it well.”

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