The exercise brought together UKPD, city, state, and federal emergency officials, including the FBI, to simulate a realistic, fast-evolving scenario — in this case, the explosion of a vehicle at Kroger Field. The previous drill involved an active shooter situation.
Thursday's mock emergency even included a post-exercise press conference offering details on the simulation. UK Police Chief Joe Monroe said the exercise took 9 1/2 months of planning and included volunteers acting as victims.
"It's one of the largest ones in the region, as well as the largest ever undertaken by the University of Kentucky," Monroe explained. "With that, (participants) have roles as first responders. We even had volunteers that came in very early this morning to get Moulin Rouge put on and really gave them an opportunity to look like a victim from a car explosion."
That level of realism is helpful as this was the first major emergency simulation for many new officers. Of course, Monroe said much of the real work comes in the aftermath as teams break down what worked and what didn't.
"The first thing we'll do as we end this exercise is do what we call a 'hot wash' and then we'll develop an after-action report that really gives us areas for improvement, identifies where our strengths were, and then what mitigation techniques do we need to look at," the chief said.
More than 650 people were involved in the drill.