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The Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) met on December 19 for planning of an active shooter training and a presentation on cybersecurity. In attendance were representatives from Socorro County, Socorro schools, Magdalena schools, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico State Police, Firefighters and Socorro Hospital.
The LEPC Active Shooter Planning Committee discussed a tabletop exercise scheduled for March 27 involving school staff, law enforcement, EMS, public health officials and local government representatives.
Federico “Fred” Hernandez, the state training and exercise unit manager from the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the exercise aims to evaluate a multi-agency response to manage an active shooter incident and the aftermath.
“It provides an opportunity to test communication, coordination, mass care services and public information dissemination protocols under some sort of stress. It’s going to be really stressful, but we want to talk these things out. And the idea is to progress to something more complex, and that’s where the stress will come in,” Hernandez said.
He said the exercise would likely expose some gaps in the process and it’s essential to follow up post table top.
“So on the back end of this, what we’ll do is we’ll put together an after-action review improvement plan,” Hernandez said, “For the exercises, we’re testing systems, not people.”
He said the objectives include evaluating communication, coordination, and mass care services. The tabletop will test operational communication, incident command, and public information, with a follow-up to address identified gaps.
Jason Everett said that, ultimately, they will have a full-scale exercise.
Andrew Bush, the cybersecurity state coordinator for New Mexico, presented on cybersecurity and the free training they offer. He said he provides schools and local government agencies with cybersecurity assessments, various workshops and resources.
He highlighted the threat of nation-state actors like China and Russia targeting critical infrastructure like water, wastewater, energy and communications.
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Bush recommended being proactive and having strong cybersecurity practices like changing default passwords, using multi-factor authentication, and having incident response plans in place.
The LEPC has a two-day training scheduled in January, and their next public meeting will be at 10 a.m. on February 20 at the Annex II.
