Dear Editor:
On February 26 a letter, I wrote to the Editor of Parsippany Focus titled “Urgent Questions Arise On Parsippany’s Active Shooter Preparedness”, was published. Before submitting that letter, I also submitted three OPRA requests to the Parsippany Police Department requesting information about the weapons and training provided to the Parsippany Police Department in preparation for a potential active shooter event
All three of the OPRA requests were denied “due to exemptions including Security Measures and Surveillance Techniques exemption, Emergency or Security Information or Procedures exemption, along with the Personnel File exemption for the long gun/rifle training for the officers”
The OPRA denial response to me, directed and approved by Chief of Police Richard Pantina, went on to state:
“However, I would like to assure you that we have a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) that covers Active Attacks, along with responding to incidents involving schools.
As a Department, we are being as transparent as we can, without compromising the safety and security of our officers and the public since providing the information you wish to review would expose our tactics, specific training, and how many officers would respond carrying specific weapons types.
Just to touch on the training our officers receive, besides computer-based training, in the last year alone, our officers have completed multiday training sessions with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on how to respond to active shooter-type events, along with Rescue Task Force training with the assistance of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and Morris County Office of Emergency Management. These trainings cover a litany of topics from response methods/tactics interoperability with other agencies, including Par-Troy EMS, along with a medical component so we can treat not only ourselves but others. Our Communications personnel as well have received training to better prepare them to handle such situations. We are being proactive as a department to keep our officers and communication personnel well informed, trained, and provided with the best tools to complete their duties daily.”
While the above comments from the Parsippany Police Department are most welcome and comforting, I would urge the Town Council, led by former police officer Paul Carifi, to meet in Closed Session to review Police Director/Mayor Barberio’s go forward plans to ensure that the Parsippany Police Department has the resources it needs to complete their duties daily.
As President Reagan was fond of saying “Trust, but verify”
Bob Crawford
