North Bay Police Service Emergency Response Team responds to a lockdown

It’s a lovely spring afternoon lunch hour has just ended and your child’s school has just gone into full lockdown thankfully the North Bay Police Service Emergency Response Team (ERT) just rolled up on the scene.

From knives to shotguns to bombs anything is possible in this tense situation, and although the team doesn’t know what they were up against, they know that protocol has to be followed when responding.

The officers go into the school and storm the halls moving from one classroom to the next securing the perimeter and searching for the perpetrators.

Although the lockdown was only an ERT training session at a centre in Corbeil, one of many for the team this week, it reconfirms that no matter how lovely and sleepy a day might be this team and all emergency personnel have to be ready to respond to any given situation.

ERT leader Sgt Mike Hunter says since the Columbine disaster, schools and other institutions are vulnerable to a number of safety issues inside and out and that knowing what to do in an intense situation is key to the team's training.