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STATESBORO, Ga. — Residents and visitors in downtown Statesboro can expect to see a significant number of first responders around First Baptist Church Statesboro on Saturday morning, but there is no need for alarm.
An active shooter drill is scheduled to take place at the church from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., aiming to prepare emergency personnel for potential critical incidents. This exercise will involve volunteers who will help simulate various scenarios, allowing law enforcement, firefighters, and EMS teams to engage in practical, real-world training.
Participating in this essential drill are several local and university agencies, including Statesboro Fire, Statesboro Police, Bulloch County EMS, Bulloch County Sheriff, and Georgia Southern University Police. These details were confirmed by Calvin Hitchcock, a field training officer with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA).
“We train for our worst day and that’s because we want to be ready for our worst day,” Hitchcock explained. “Given the increase in violence globally, it’s crucial that we are prepared for any eventuality.”
“We train for our worst day and that’s because we want to be ready for our worst day,” Hitchcock said. “We’re training for, with the uptick across the world, violence in general.”
Hitchcock added that the simulations will test the church’s recently submitted emergency action plans.
“We’ve actually been working on this for eight months now to get to where we’re at,” he said. “We’re just going to exercise our plan; we want to see if we need to rewrite some of the plan to better suit our facility.”
The exercise will also not prohibit first responders from getting to real-life problems.
“We’re still answering calls. If we do have a true emergency come over, that takes priority over what we’re doing.”
This is also being done solely as a training exercise and test for the church’s plan.
“There have been no threats of any sort to any of the local area,” Hitchcock said.
He adds that no roads will be closed and traffic is not expected to be affected.