LANCASTER, Pa. — Unwanted buildings in Lancaster County were used one last time on Tuesday.
Pennsylvania State Police and other first responders did real-world training exercises in soon-to-be demolished buildings at Millersville University.
More than 20 officers from the PSP Special Emergency Response Team participated in the specialized training and engaged in breaching and entry scenarios.
“It’s important to be able to work in a realistic, different area, rather than training in the same buildings time and time again,” said Pete Anders, Millersville University's police chief.
Officers had access to four university-owned buildings on Frederick Street that are expected to be torn down later this month, including Dauphin, Allegheny, Armstrong, and Susquehanna houses.
Anders described the training as invaluable.
“It’s also really important that if we have some critical incidents that’ll happen in the Millersville community that we want folks to be able to respond based on the training that they have,” Anders said.
Officers used shields and simulated rounds during Tuesday’s training. Some wore body cameras to later evaluate their performance.
“They’re going to make decisions as they go through their practices on how they can either de-escalate or neutralize something so that there’s the least amount of harm for everybody that’s involved,” Anders said.
On the sideline was senior Hannah Sweda, who’s studying to be a criminologist.
“Something like this is going to help me understand what I want to do and also just understand what law enforcement does and what they do for us,” Sweda said.
She plans to pursue a career in law enforcement and potentially join the same team she saw in action.
“Even here today there’s not a woman on the PSP SERT team, there’s just not, it’s really hard to get into,” Sweda said.
“We need good women as police officers in our community,” Anders added.
Crews from Blue Rock Fire Rescue are expected to train in the same buildings on Tuesday evening.