Code Red demonstration

Were you surprised to see the police cars, fire engines and other emergency vehicles on campus on Friday, Nov. 6? Do not be alarmed because it was a staged emergency drill.

The drill took place at the west end of campus, Buildings, 16, 17 and 19 beginning at 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Marion County Sheriff's Office, Ocala Fire Rescue and Ocala Police Department were all involved in conducting a full-scale emergency drill.

This is not the first drill that has taken place on the Ocala campus.

"The first drill was a desk top exercise held about a month ago in the Klein Center with many agencies involved in practicing for various scenarios," said Dr. James Harvey, part of the college's incident management team and senior vice president. "This drill is being performed to test the preparedness and the response procedures for various types of possible incidents."

According to the emergency drill press release, The Task Force for University Campus Safety was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist after university incidents including the Virginia Tech shooting.

"The drill gives us a chance to evaluate the security we have in place and see if we can improve," said Sgt. Angy Scroble, PIO Ocala Police Department. "This training is to assist us to see if what we have in place will work with the other agencies in the event of a violent event."