STATEWIDE ANTI-TERRORISM TRAINING SCHEDULED FOR BRENHAM
The Texas Department of Public Safety, along with the FBI, will be conducting a full-scale anti-terrorism training exercise this weekend in and around Brenham.
According to a press release issued by the DPS, each of the four statewide FBI Divisions – in Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio - and DPS will be leading a statewide training exercise beginning at noon on October 28th, and ending at around 5 p.m. on the 30th.
Local agencies slated to participate in the exercise are the Brenham Police Department, Blinn College Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and Washington County Office of Emergency Management.
The state is conducting these training exercises to confirm the ability of federal, state, and local agencies to respond to complex terrorist attacks. The training focuses on the response planning abilities of law enforcement, emergency management, and medical services.
Brenham Police Public Information Officer Alyson Tofel says there will be FBI agents and trailers at the Fairgrounds starting Sunday night, but they will not be moving off the Fairground’s premises. She says the police department will not be involved in the exercise, but some officers will go to observe.
DPS Sergeant Jimmy Morgan says not much is known about what exercises will be performed at this point. He did say people shouldn’t be alarmed if they see a large amount of law enforcement personnel in the area, as it’s likely because of the exercise.
In addition to Brenham, locations such as San Antonio, Greenville, and El Paso will be participating.
The public is asked to avoid areas where training is occurring, as unusual activity may take place related to the exercise, including role players depicting attackers and victims. More information is coming to the areas participating in the exercises.
Guess there’s no need for our local Emergency Management office to include Fire response contingencies in this type of training. Oh wait, our county emergency manager was an EMS employee, we all know they can’t be bothered to work with firemen. I’ve never lived anywhere in my life where the local ambulance service refused to work and train with the fire contingent. I sure hope that letting beurocrats play politics doesn’t bite us in the rear one day.
Nice call concerned citizen. We local firefighters with the exception of Brenham are not included in any combined training. We are held to a high training standard and many of the county VFD’s have state certified firefighters but we are constantly left behind. Our citizens should really question our local leaders on how much we give Brenham fire for services that the county fire Dept want to provide but are not allowed.