Active Shooter First Responder

Training 2025

by JoMarie Faulkerson, Operations and Planning Deputy

In June, Santa Cruz County’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) volunteers were activated to support the annual Santa Cruz Regional Active Shooter and Casualty Care Response Training event sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department.  The volunteers were tasked to monitor the perimeter and parking areas of the access-controlled training site, redirecting unauthorized pedestrian and/or vehicle traffic that may inadvertently enter the area, and reporting/communicating potential suspicious activity or other issues. 

The event ran for five days, June 23 – June 27th, at the Soquel High School campus. The Active Shooter training is for law enforcement, fire, and medical first responders who may be called upon to face an active shooter in a crowded environment. The training includes live scenarios with volunteer actors playing the roles of shooters, victims, and panicked bystanders. The organizing of the event was completed over a few months.  CERT command staff of John Collins: Operations Chief, Lynn Gainey: Logistics Chief and JoMarie Faulkerson: Operations and Logistics Deputy along with John Gerhardt, ARES District Emergency Coordinator and Dan Selling, ARES Event Manager were included in the planning.

This was the first time using the Soquel campus location and it encompassed a modest-sized footprint for perimeter monitoring.  In prior years the event had been at Scotts Valley High, SLV tri-campus, Aptos High and UCSC.  Also similar to last year, there were additional activities on-going on campus at the same time as the training.  These included Summer School and a multitude of athletic activities.

Radio communications were via MURS and public safety radios.  Health and welfare check for each volunteer on site were completed at least every half hour by a designated radio operator.  The Active Shooter event logistics coordinator provided additional communications via the public safety radio to the posts and acknowledged through MURS to the shift lead.  This included scenario initiation and cessation.

After signing in and a briefing by the shift lead, the perimeter monitor volunteers were sent to one of six locations. The shifts (4 – 5 hours long) overlapped to allow time for the briefing and transition of volunteers at each of the posts.  Sheriff officers in a roving utility vehicle augmented the perimeter monitoring posts.  Augmenting one post this year was a mob of goats, hired to complete a weed eating campaign.  It was the most requested post by our volunteers and stories of the various activities shared frequently – two kids practicing their head butts and rams asserting their territory.

There was a total of 448 hours of service by 44 volunteers over the entire event.  Many of the volunteers have dual citizenship with both CERT and ARES.  Because of this, it is difficult to state the exact hours provided by each of the groups. However, nine CERT teams (from all over the county) were represented.  The average number of shifts worked by a volunteer was two.  This was the first activation for several of the volunteers who thought it was a very rewarding activity.

Many returning volunteers reported enjoying themselves more at this campus because of the various happenings presented at the posts that allowed us to use several of our trained skills from observation and traffic management to psychology.  We had many interactions with the public explaining the purpose and length of the campus closure.  We also enjoyed the various aspects of the flora and fauna.  There was a great sense of purpose in this activation.

The Wharf to Wharf's New Route

As you may have heard, due to the Murray Street Bridge construction, this year's Wharf to Wharf race had a new route. No Santa Cruz Wharf start this year. Instead the runners started out on Portola Drive in Live Oak and headed west towards the Santa Cruz Harbor, looped around the Harbor on Lake Ave and headed back east on East Cliff towards the finish line at the Capitola Wharf. This meant that some residents would not be able to drive out of their neighborhood from early Sunday morning until midday or later.

Lieutenant Nick Baldridge of the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office, as part of the planning team, had a few ideas in mind.

1) Use Cruz Aware to inform people in the impacted neighborhoods.

2) Put up light-up trailers with appropriate messaging before the race.

3) Ask Supervisor Koenig's office to push stuff out to their contacts in the area

4) And, his secret weapon. A small but determined group of CERTs met with Lt. Baldridge Wednesday morning to receive our assignment. Reach out to affected folks in three neighborhoods. We were given about 1000 flyers to hand out in person or leave taped to people's doors. Using our Knock and Talk recording app, designed by Jennie Garcia, CERT and OR3 GIS specialist, we headed out in groups of two. JoMarie Faulkerson was our team lead for the day, checking in frequently with the pairs. Six hours later we had reached most of the affected community households. We spoke with 211 households and left flyers at another 435 homes. We also had walked about 6 miles, longer than this year's race! All in all, a rewarding but tiring activation.

CERTS and MRC Training Together

On August 2nd over 30 CERT and 20 MRC (Medical Reserve Corps) volunteers will spend their Saturday at the Sheriffs' Office in Live Oak for Red Cross training in Mass Care: Sheltering and Feeding. If and when the next large disaster strikes, we need to be prepared to assist with shelter set-up throughout the county.

This training is sponsored by OR3 and the Red Cross. Thanks to Amanda Gullings; OR3 analyst, and Jamshid Kiani and Lorraine Jacobs; Red Cross instructors for arranging this group training. Shout out to the Santa Cruz Sheriffs Office for offering their Community Room for us to use.