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Police respond to hospital after mock hostage drill mistake

Emergency Management Alert, June 24, 2008

It was only a drill, but an employee from another facility, who didn’t realize that a mock hostage situation was being played out, called the local police to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Vallejo, CA.

The drama involving guns, hostages, and armed police, could have turned the hospital drill on June 17 into the real thing, reported the Vallejo Times-Herald. "We were holding a drill, with the scenario of a hostage situation, when someone walked into the middle of it," Kaiser Permanente regional spokesman Jim Caroompa told the newspaper.

Those involved in the drill, held in the medical center’s second floor offices, including a security officer simulating an armed intruder, didn’t realize the employee from another facility wasn’t in on the drill. When she was told to come and join the hostages, she hid under a table and called 911. Although the hospital held a walk-through meeting the previous day with Vallejo police, law enforcement officers responded to what they believed was an armed hostage situation, the newspaper said.

At some point, someone apparently noticed officers making their way to the upper floors and let them know a mock drill was taking place. The mistake happened despite the drill planning, which included the posting of signs throughout the facility informing visitors and staff that a drill was in progress. Participants also wore bright orange vests with signs indicating a drill was in process and overhead announcements were made several times during the activity.

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