All right, good afternoon everybody. Uh, I'm Penelis County Sheriff Bob Gautier and with me is Penelis County School Superintendent Kevin Hendrick. Um, today we just concluded and it's still in progress actually um, our fourth mass casualty active asalent attack exercise here in Penelis County. One of the things that is great about Penelis County is the collaborative effort of everybody working together to be as prepared as we can possibly be for what will be uh the worst day in the lives especially if it happens in a school of kids, parents and staff members. And we want to be as prepared as we can. Uh the goal uh in any one of these responses is to have as much organized chaos as we can because there's going to be chaotic. We need to manage people's expectations and we want to make sure uh that we create the safest environment as quickly as we can that we stop the killing, we stop the killer uh and we get the kids if it's in a school and the staff members to a place of safety and get them treatment as fast as we can. So to put on an exercise like this is of great magnitude. It takes a lot of planning, takes hundreds of people to make it as real as we possibly can. One of the things that I know that we have mastered here in Penelis County is being able to stop the killing and to, as they would say, neutralize that threat uh quickly. We've got the concepts down of single officer response of having elements go in of two and three team deputies uh to stop the killing. What we tried to focus on this year was a little bit more structure. Because as I said a second ago, the goal is to have some structure and organize chaos to a very chaotic event. And I think we made progress this year. Uh we are doing something here in Penllis County that I don't know is being done at least to this magnitude any place else in Florida or any place else in the country is is that every uh police agency and fire agency, EMS agency in the county trains together and that is very unique. Uh we started this a while back and we have a common countywide active assent response policy. So as opposed to all the police departments and different agencies having their own uh independent unilateral protocols, policies and responses, we now operate off of one page and we all train together. So that's a big deal and we have seen great progress uh that we've made since we've been doing that. But there's still room to improve. Another thing where we are here today is something that we have brought together through the work of every municipality in Penllis County, Penelis County government, the school district, and that is as quickly as we can to bring what we call the affected people and in this case the students at a school who are the victims of one of these incidents to be reunited uh with family members and friends. So, the family reunification center, which is what this is, is a place that people would be taken uh and as they're taken to the reunification center, they're reunited as fast as they can with family members and friends so that they can go home. At the same time, here we want to make sure that people are cared for. There's medical care that they can receive. We have investigators here that can do interviews. We can collect evidence. But the primary goal of a reunification center is just that and to make sure that the family members uh get to their loved ones as soon as possible. Um the UN reunification task force here in Penelis County is comprised of about 250 people uh from all police departments, fire agencies, cities that are non first responder people, the school district, supplies personnel, and we all come together because it takes a lot of people to staff it. Again, I don't know of any really entity in Florida, anywhere in the country that is doing what we're doing and has made the investment. Uh the Penelis County Commission invested about $1.7 million into all the equipment for the tents, the generators, the air conditioning units. We developed all the own software ourselves. So there's a lot that goes into making this work. But this can be used not just for a mass casualty intentional act, an active asalent event, but it can also be used during a natural disaster and it can be used during an accident situation. So, uh, we're still in the process of developing all the protocols and building it out, but we're a long way toward that end goal than we were a year ago. Uh, this is the first time that we've incorporated into an active asalent exercise, the full family reunification center. So, I would say from what I see here today, I'm pleased with where we are and pleased with the progress we've made, but there's still room to go. So overall, uh, people in Penllis County should know that we are very, very serious about this. Uh, that we want to be as effective as we can. Uh, when that day comes here in Penllis County, of course, we all hope it doesn't come, but the reality is is that it's going to happen again. The question is when and where and not if, and if it does happen here in Penllis County, uh, we're going to be as prepared as we can. Um, one of the messaging things that I, you know, would like to convey to everybody is we completely understand when you have one of these events that the public people, they want to get to their family member and friends as quickly as possible. The reality of it is is that we're doing everybody a service by having a separate reunification center. And if this happens and you have somebody that is affected by it, whether it's at a school or another place, we are going to set up a separate place like this reunification center to meet. And when we ask you to go to that reunification center, please go to it. Don't go to the site itself because you're not going to get in. It is going to be uh cordoned off and you're going to be frustrated and you're going to actually be able to get to that family member, friend, loved one uh quicker uh by going to the reunification center. So, know that here in Penllis, the model we have is is we have the site of the incident and then we have a separate reunification center. So, if you know someone uh that is affected by a mass casualty event, go to the reunification center and you're going to get connected uh much more quickly. Um, I'll turn it over to Superintendent Hendrickk and then we'll take any questions that you have. >> Thank you, Sheriff. I want to uh emphasize what Sheriff just said in terms of the partnership between the different municipalities and agencies across Penllis County working together uh to better our community and and we've used the schools for several of these mass casualty exercises, but as he said, it could happen anywhere. Um, the partnership has has been tremendous, but I I think I want to emphasize and tell the community that our goal of course is to never get here. And so as much as we can work on preventing these types of situations, that's what our staff is working on today. So every principal and assistant principal in this district participated and watched and observed uh the drill this morning. And they also participated in active threat management training. And so how do we identify these threats? How do we report on them? How do we get students, adults, whoever it might be, the help that they need so that we never have something like this today? Uh we encourage our families, our community, identify these threats, report them to school administrators, use our see something, say something app, report them to law enforcement. Uh because these things don't just happened. There are signs and so we want to prevent them. Uh but the the collaboration that you see across our county commission, our sheriff's office, and then all the agencies is really remarkable, and we're trying to do the very best we can to support our children and to support our community. And so with that, we'll entertain questions. Anybody? Anybody have anything? Nope. We covered it. Okay. All right. Thanks everybody. Appreciate it.