As Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says, it’s not a question of if, but when and where an active assailant event will occur again. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s (PCSO) Mass Casualty Planning Unit (MCPU) is taking comprehensive steps to keep our county – especially our schools – safe. The unit coordinated the recent Active Assailant Mass Casualty Exercise, a large-scale, multi-agency training scenario that gave deputies a chance to prepare for the worst-case scenario in an extremely realistic way.

In this training scenario held at the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College, two high school students who were expelled wanted to get revenge on the teens they believe wronged them. They went to a college fair they knew those students were attending, and opened fire. The scenario recreated the chaos, confusion, and lack of solid information that law enforcement may receive when responding to a real active assailant situation. Deputies and responding officers didn’t know for sure how many shooters there were, or where they were located.

“This exercise was dynamic in nature,” said Mass Casualty Planning Unit Sergeant Jessica Mackesy. “Law enforcement was tested during the scenario in their preparedness and quick-thinking in a large mass casualty event.”

One of the most challenging portions of the scenario was when one of the shooters hijacked a school bus. Law enforcement responders had to figure out how to stop a moving bus with an active shooter on board and stop the threat.

The MCPU is a relatively new unit at our agency, created a little more than a year ago to address the pressing need to plan and prepare, to prevent and mitigate. They are responsible for planning and coordinating the annual active assailant exercise. Now in its third year, it is a massive undertaking. “It takes around a year to plan it,” said Captain Kim Kilian, who commands the Threat Management Division. This year’s exercise was on the smaller side, because only law enforcement responded to the scenario, not fire departments or EMS as they had in previous years. Nor did they set up a full Reunification Center afterward. Still, the “small” drill involved about 300 people, from law enforcement responders to role players portraying victims and witnesses, controllers who made sure the scenario ran smoothly and participants stayed within the boundaries, and evaluators who observed every moment of the action to critique and learn from it later.

Last year saw a new countywide active assailant policy take effect. “We realized the need for that after the first two drills,” Captain Kilian said. “These exercises are vital because you learn from your failures. You need to see the mistakes, because you can’t fix them until you know they exist. Finding the mistakes and holes in our planning is a huge part of what this unit was created for.”

But planning the annual active assailant exercise is only one component of the MCPU. The unit is also responsible for conducting site assessment for the 160 private schools in the county. Members of the MCPU tour the school grounds, looking at everything from the perimeter to the building exterior, and inside the classrooms themselves to evaluate the school’s strengths and vulnerabilities. They’re looking from a point of view of preventing an active assailant from gaining access to the school in the first place, as well as mitigating any harm they can cause.

Evaluators from the MCPU look at dozens of criteria and rate whatever issues they find as low, medium, high, or no action required. Low priority items don’t have a significant impact on safety and may be cost-prohibitive or require significant policy changes. Medium priority items may not need immediate action, but should be addressed. For example, having inadequate building identifiers could be a medium priority, as it would make it harder for first responders to navigate when responding to an emergency. High priority items may critically impact the school’s overall security, response, or recovery from an active assailant event and should be urgently addressed. For example if classrooms aren’t kept locked, or if they don’t contain marked hard corners, it is a high priority problem that needs to be fixed immediately. A hard corner is an area where students and teachers aren’t visible from any windows or door openings, at an angle where it wouldn’t be possible for an assailant to engage them.

Members of the MCPU look at criteria that the average person might overlook – they’ll check tree limb height to make sure it isn’t easy for an assailant to scale the roof, and scan for rocks near a door that can be used to prop it open. They’ll find out how staff members are trained to respond to the earliest signs of threatening behavior, and whether there is a reunification plan in place for the aftermath.

“After we do the site assessment we sit down with the administrators and present the results,” Captain Kilian said. “We go over the good, the bad, and the ugly to see where they’re at, and then talk about how they can improve their school’s safety. Then we give an active assailant presentation to the staff.” They make sure all school staff members appreciate how important it is to plan for worst-case scenarios, and go over ways to improve the safety of their campus to keep the students safe. “Then we schedule drills, as often as they’ll let us do them. We encourage them to hold drills monthly, but that’s up to them. Anything is better than nothing."

She said that the reception from the private schools has been extremely positive. “For drills, they ask what the public schools are doing and usually want to be on the same schedule too,” Captain Kilian said. The principal picks the drill for the month. “We give them suggestions about evacuation routes and rally points.” School staff can use what they learn during the drills to improve their policies and plans. After a year, the MCPU returns for a follow-up evaluation to see what improvements they’ve made, or to make new suggestions based on what they’ve learned.

A private school can have a staff member go through our Guardian academy. PCSO provides them with training, as well as a firearm and a PCSO radio. The Guardian could be someone the school hires specifically for that role, or a current staff member such as the PE coach or the assistant principal.

Keeping our schools and our entire community safe from active assailants is the ultimate goal. “Preparing for an active assailant event will be an ever-evolving training practice for law enforcement and our fire and EMS partners,” said Sergeant Mackesy. “As we work together to improve our response and save lives, there is no finish line when it comes to training and preparedness for mass casualty events such as these.”



Our warm climate and sunshine make the Tampa Bay area a perfect place to host parades, festivals, and other events where large numbers of people gather outdoors. But these days, fears of active shooters and the increasing frequency of vehicle-based attacks such as what occurred on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans can make people hesitant to celebrate in crowds. Amid all the planning for fun is the far more vital planning to prevent tragedy, and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) takes many steps to ensure that large-scale events are as safe as possible. They support security and safety not only within Pinellas County, but also in neighboring jurisdictions in Tampa Bay through mutual aid agreements if a large event requires more resources than any one jurisdiction has. Recently, the PCSO Marine and Environmental Lands Unit assisted in making sure the Gasparilla maritime parade – also known as the pirate invasion - went off without a hitch.

Two PCSO SAFE Boats joined 61 other law enforcement and fire vessels from around the state, as well as three helicopters. They worked together with a common objective of providing for the safety of the parade boats, the spectators, workers, and everyone involved. It is an event that is ripe for accidents. Hundreds of civilian boats – operated by captains whose enthusiasm might outweigh their skill or common sense – crowd in narrow waterways trying to get closer to the Jose Gasparilla. Small boats are trying to get in position to throw or catch beads, gold coins, or rubber ducks while huge ships maneuver on the parade route. And yes, to nobody’s surprise, there is often alcohol involved. (It is legal for both the captain and passengers to consume alcohol on a vessel, but it is not legal for the person operating the boat to be impaired.) Add to these general safety concerns the added security needed for a large gathering, and you need a big law enforcement presence. 

PCSO’s Marine deputies flanked the parade flagship to keep the “mosquito fleet” of small civilian vessels clear from its route while dozens of other law enforcement vessels looked for anything suspicious. Animal lovers will be pleased to know that in addition to security threats, air and marine support also scanned the parade route for sensitive wildlife such as manatees, and if any were found, could delay the parade until the animal was safe. Thanks to careful planning and coordinated execution, the maritime parade was without incident.

Various PCSO specialized units participate in planning for, and security during large scale events. PCSO provides air support to the entire county, and our helicopters can scan from the skies, alert for any danger. Drones operated by members of the Technical Response Team can also hover over large crowds to spot the first signs of trouble. The Command Bus might be used during major events, providing a high-tech base for monitoring and intelligence gathering. At such events, analysts from the Intelligence Led Policing Unit will be on hand to research any potential problems and provide the most accurate and up to date information about any potential threat.

The Canine Unit can play a big role in security at large-scale events. Some of the K-9s are certified in explosives detection, and can sweep large areas for any suspicious devices. They can be used in stadiums to check before big sporting events, or in any area where crowds will gather.

A relatively new method of attack is using a vehicle as a weapon, ploughing into a crowd to cause maximum pedestrian casualties. The Special Events Unit can survey a site or route prior to the event and identify any points that are vulnerable to attack. They have portable crash- and attack-resistant bollards that can be deployed in roadways to prevent any vehicle from entering a restricted area. Some jurisdictions may even supplement bollards by using large sanitation or utility vehicles to block certain roads – their large size allows them to redirect or stop vehicles to supplement a law enforcement presence.

Whenever large numbers of people come together there is potential for mayhem, but careful planning and cooperation among PCSO units and between local agencies can help people stay safe.