BPD apologizes to any students and staff upset after ‘about as real life as you can get’ roleplay
Social media post June 5, 2024 on Burlington Neighborhood Planning Assembly site
by Guy Page
BHS students were exposed to a surprise role-playing armed robbery, complete with loud gunfire, Wednesday, June 5 at the police station at One North Avenue.
The mock robbery was staged on behalf of students on an end-of-year field trip.
“For the demonstration, with lack of warning, they heard screams coming from two woman who burst through the door behind the students, followed by a man in a ski mask and hat clearly hiding his face,” according to a post on a Burlington Neighborhood Planning Association social media page. The author said the information came from ‘my friend’ who reportedly was in attendance.
The students were reportedly unaware and some ducked in terror underneath tables at the activity sound of the gunfire in the room.
Burlington Police say (below) that the event was planned by BPD and approved by school staff. An email inquiry to BPD public affairs officer Sarah Timm prompted an ‘out of office’ automatic reply. A phone message left this morning has not yet been answered.
Press Release, with no specific author mentioned, received Thursday from the Burlington Police Department:
The Burlington Police Department is aware of a social media posting concerning a presentation between the Burlington High School (BHS) Year End Studies (YES) Program and the BPD. It is our understanding that the original social media post was made by a student who was not in attendance for the presentation but who may have known someone who attended and was reportedly upset.
First and foremost, the Burlington Police Department apologizes to any students in attendance who were upset by the specific scenario and crime scene portion of the presentation. The roll playing scenario only involved three department personnel simulating a robbery scenario and was not directed at any students or faculty.
We believe that the criminal justice program at BHS and Burlington Technical Center is a critical partner, and that our city’s young people are one of our most important constituencies, and so the BPD endeavored to have joint coordination and clear communication before this classroom experience.
On 29 April 2024, Burlington School District staff associated with the YES program contacted the BPD about conducting another presentation after a previous successful presentation between the police department and the BHS Science in Society program in the fall of 2023.
Follow up communication between YES program staff and members of the BPD took place as the event was being coordinated. On 23 May 2024, police department staff and Yes Program staff communicated about the details of the scenarios, including saying that the training incident would involve “using fake firearms in a mock shooting. Do you think that sort of incident would be ok for your group of students? It is about as real life as you can get, and is certainly exactly the sort of thing we deal with most frequently.” YES Program staff responded, “I think these students will be fine with this simulation. We will give a heads up to parents and students.”
Because the BPD places the utmost importance on serving and learning from our community, the BPD supervisor involved with the presentation has already reached out to the associated YES program staff members in order to discuss the matter further. The BPD will be meeting with BSD students and staff tomorrow to discuss the presentation and its impact. We hope that this can be a reflective growth opportunity for all parties.
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