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Hartlepool College of Further Education
COLLEGE STUDENTS TAKE PART IN MAJOR EMERGENCY SERVICES EXERCISE
Students and staff from Hartlepool College of Further Education played a major part in one of the largest emergency services training exercises to be held in the north east for many years. Exercise “Sandpiper” was designed to test the response of police, ambulance and fire services in the event of an “active shooter” scenario, where public safety is endangered by a gunman or gunmen. Such incidents have recently been highlighted by events in the USA and France. The scenario involved an armed robbery gone wrong and the gang being pursued to “Sandpiper College” on Hartlepool Marina, shooting students and causing a significant motor accident before taking students and staff hostage.
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The fictional College was actually the disused retail outlet Jackson’s Landing, and Hartlepool College was approached many months ago with a request from the exercise planners to convert the empty interior into a layout of corridors and classrooms. A team of Construction students worked to exacting specifications and constructed a maze of rooms in which casualties, hostages and the gunmen would by placed to provide a realistic challenge to the police firearms and medical teams. A large number of College students and staff from areas such as Sport and Public Services were also drafted in to play victims on the day, with College Production Arts Make-Up students led by Tracey Jukes providing a series of realistic make-ups to simulate a variety of wounds.