University police will be training at Harker Hall this month

CHAMPAIGN, IL (Chambana Today) – The University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD) will be quite visible on campus this month.

The UIPD has scheduled training sessions at Harker Hall on the following dates:

UIPD Chief of Staff Patrick Wade says that the officers will be re-training in their strategies and tactics related to active threats (i.e. someone with a weapon actively attempting to hurt a large number of people).

“All of our officers complete this training regularly, hoping that they never have to use it in a real-life scenario but preparing themselves if they do,” Wade says. “We have a very safe campus, but given the realities of the world we live in, it’s imperative that our campus officers are trained to quickly address an active threat to minimize the potential harm to our campus community. This training is critical, and would save lives in a real-life incident.”

The UIPD says that these training sessions will take place inside the building and will not cause any disruptions to other activities in the area. During the training, they say that you may observe some additional police vehicles in the vicinity. To ensure awareness, signage will be displayed on the building, indicating the exact location of the training for the campus community members.