Bloomfield College Holds Emergency Drill

Classes were briefly suspended for Bloomfield College students on Thursday when cops, firefighters and other emergency responders took over the campus in an emergency simulation exercise. 

Bloomfield college staff and students were shepherded into the school's gym during while the campus was swept by Essex County's bomb squad, Bloomfield police, Bloomfield firefighters and the township office of emergency management. 

In the exercise, required to be held annually by New Jersey's President's Council, the school was simulating a bomb threat. In a press release, the school said the "table top" exercise was intended to spark conversations among participants about the process. 

Students and staff were alerted earlier in the day about the mock drill via email. Nonetheless, for some, it was an unwelcome breaking up of the day. One professor who asked not to be identified said the drill was a waste of time for an open campus in the middle of a densely populated area. 

Others defended the exercise as a necessary preparation. 

"Some people see this as a nuisance, but if the real thing happened, they'd be glad we did it," the college's Director of Public Relations and Advancement Marketing Jill B. Alexander said.