COLUMBIA — The Columbia Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics and the Crisis Negotiation teams performed a joint training exercise at Planned Parenthood on Wednesday evening.
Between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. members of the SWAT team surrounded the offices of the clinic, which is located at 711 N. Providence Road near Hickman High School, to carry out various emergency response exercises.
“Had this scenario been real, Providence would have been closed and numerous residences evacuated,” said Lt. Scott Young, patrol shift commander for SWAT “We have these exercises about once or twice a year.”
The exercise used Ridgeway Elementary School, which is about 200 feet behind the clinic, as the base of operations.