Daily Five: Waterford Police Training for Newtown-Like Event

1. Today, snow is expected before 1, and then it should turn into a mixture of rain and snow, according to the National Weather Service. Tonight should be cloudy, with a low around 21, according to the service.

2. Wednesday night, during the Board of Finance’s budget reviews, Waterford Police Chief Murray Pendleton discussed how the Waterford Police Department would handle an active shooter, either at a school or another crowded area, like the Crystal Mall.

Pendleton said there were lessons learned after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. At that massacre, the two armed guards at the high school, along with police who came after, surrounded the building and set up a perimeter. While such a tactic works well if the shooter is interested in taking hostages, it doesn’t work when the shooter is intent on just killing as many people as possible.

Now, that tactic has changed, as police will charge the shooter, looking to “cease and desist” them as soon as possible, Pendleton said. The Waterford Police Department, along with other departments, have trained that exact situation, and news reports from the Newtown massacre indicate police followed that tactic and it likely saved lives.

“We don’t have the ability to wait and react for the state police to arrive,” Pendleton said.

Instead, if anything were to happen in New London, Waterford or East Lyme, police from all three municipalities would go after the active shooter, he said. Such trainings have been done at the Crystal Mall, Pendleton said.

3. Today, the Red Cross is holding a blood drive from 1 to 6 in Waterford Town Hall.

According to americasblood.org, one in seven people who enter a hospital will need a blood donation, and one pint of blood can save up to three lives.

4. Today, two new movies open at Waterford’s Regal Cinemas.

Dead Man Down, a suspense starring Colin Farrell, plays at 4:10, 7:10 and 9:55. And Oz the Great and Powerful, a movie in the Wizard of Oz series starring Mila Kunis and James Franco, plays at 4 and 7 and plays in 3D at 4:30, 5, 7:30, 8 and 9:45.

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5. On this date in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange was founded. And on this date in 1995, the US Supreme Court upheld the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing.

Quote of the Day

“Love is being stupid together.”

-Paul Valery

Trivia of the Day

Who wrote Common Sense?

Yesterday’s Answer: Joe Carter turned 53 Thursday. Carter is one of only two men to hit a World Series-winning walk-off home run, with his tater off of Mitch Williams in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series.