First respondersPhiladelphia police hold emergency exercise

On Wednesday morning the Philadelphia police department held a training exercise to help prepare officers to respond during a terrorist attack.

Starting at 10:30 AM roughly 50 officers gathered on 22^nd Street and JFK Boulevard where they were given assignments, briefed, and eventually deployed to cover different sections of Center City.

Joe Sullivan, Philadelphia’s chief inspector, briefly outlined what occurred during the exercise.

“If there was a terrorist attack, and it occurred in Center City, we would define what the crisis point is, what our parameters are, what our perimeters would be.”

Once officers were assigned their tasks, they moved throughout the cityat normal speeds, but did have their lights and sirens on.

The drill involved members of the department’s Homeland Security Unit and was a rapid deployment exercise thatreflected Philadelphia’s heightened level of awareness following the death of Osama bin Laden.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said that the exercise was not in response to any specific threat, but was aimed at ensuring that all local law enforcement officers were on guard.

“I’ve been in touch with the Homeland Security Department and the FBI,” Ramsey said. “Philadelphia and every city needs to have a level of preparedness.”

Ramsey added that the exercise will occur with minimum disruption to traffic and existing law enforcement duties.

“The officers don’t know when we’re going to call them down, but certainly know when we’re going to do these drills so we can deploy people across the city without stripping any district of its resources,” Ramsey said.

The drill lasted for ninety minutes and took several months to plan.

Each year the department holds two to three counter-terrorism exercises.