The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, in collaboration with the County Executive’s Office, has produced an updated active shooter response training video for residents. The video can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/_ljItTqKXWk..

The primary goal of this video is to stress the need for preparedness,” Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta said. “Unfortunately, these types of situations can happen in the world we live in. You must be prepared for anything, and we are always here to help provide some of the resources and education you need.”

The one-hour video features information on how to recognize signs of potential workplace violence, how to respond to active shooters or other workplace violence situations.

The presentation was developed by the Special Operations Group (SOG) based on the CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events) Curriculum offered by the ALERRT Program, for the unique needs of groups impacted by active shooter incidents in schools, places of worship and local businesses, including emergency personnel/first responders, school administrators/teachers and students’ parents/guardians. The video was unveiled for residents at a program on Tuesday, October 24 at the County’s Emergency Services Center.

Arteta and Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus hosted the event. Senior Investigator Samantha Pascal provided opening remarks to the audience, and Deputy Robert Rabbitt, the Assistant Commander of the Special Operations Group, was the presenter of the video. The simulation portion of the video was recorded at an active shooter drill for school administrators in November of last year at Orange-Ulster BOCES. Approximately 210 Police Officers and other first responders within Orange County participated in the training exercise.

“The subject of an active shooter situation is difficult to talk about,” Orange County Executive Neuhaus said. “However, we want our residents to be trained on how to plan for and react if they ever face a threat in the workplace or someplace where they spend personal time. I want to thank Sheriff Arteta and his team for working hard on a video that is informative and very well done.”