“WE ARE STORMING THE DORMITORY”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, POLICE SAY DOZENS OF OFFICERS SWOOPED IN ON A UCLA RESIDENCE HALL DURING A MASSIVE SIMULATION OF A TERRORIST ATTACK AT THE SITE OF THE 2028 OLYMPIC VILLAGE… AND LAPD CHIEF JIM MCDONNELL SAYS THE CITY CURRENTLY LACKS THE COPS AND FUNDING TO PROPERLY PROTECT THE GAMES.
Shots rang out from a UCLA dormitory on Wednesday morning as the Los Angeles Police Department launched a massive tactical simulation.
Dozens of LAPD officers swooped in on the university building in response to the simulated gunfire.
The tactical operation was staged as a simulation of an attack at the real-life site of the Olympic Village for the Summer 2028 games.
The entire exercise was centered on UCLA’s Hendrick Hall.
Hendrick Hall is slated to house competing athletes during the LA28 Games.
On Wednesday morning, the student residence became the site of a mock terrorist attack for an LAPD SWAT exercise.
The SWAT exercise brought throngs of uniformed officers onto the university campus.
The responding officers moved into position armed to the teeth.
The tactical exercise also incorporated several police aircraft deployed in the airspace above the campus.
In one component of the drill, a police helicopter lowered officers directly onto the roof of the dorm.
The dormitory where the exercise took place is an eight-story building.
SWAT officers raced to the scene wearing tactical vests.
They carried automatic weapons.
They carried battering rams.
The scenarios staged inside the building included simulations of active shooters.
The exercises also included simulations of explosions detonating inside the eight-story dormitory.
About 60 actors participated in the five-hour training drill.
Actors played the roles of terrified hostages trapped inside the dormitory.
Other actors portrayed crazed shooters moving through the facility.
Still other actors played bloody victims injured during the simulated assault.
Throughout the five-hour training, the actors screamed for help.
The entire operation served as a dry run for protecting the Olympic Village in the event of an attack during the Games.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said “everything fell into place” during the drill.
“We focus on training for the Olympics, and certainly this is part of that, but it’s also training for every day, what could happen on a campus or on any other kind of a facility,” he added.
“This will be the Athletes Village for the Olympics in 2028,” McDonnell added.
“A major focus is on making sure everything works just perfectly here.”
McDonnell said police will do whatever it takes to secure the Olympic Games.
But the city currently does not have enough cops to properly protect it during the Games.
The city also currently lacks the funding to properly protect it during the Games.
According to McDonnell, the 2028 Games will require a security force of about 7,500 officers per day.
The LAPD currently maintains a total uniformed force of just 8,550 officers in all.
McDonnell said the department cannot meet that daily 7,500-officer requirement on its own.
To make up for the shortage, the LAPD will be supplemented by officers from outside law enforcement agencies.
The chief noted that officers will be brought in from police departments around the state.
The chief noted that officers will also be brought in from departments outside California.
Under current deployment plans, 2,500 LAPD officers will be assigned directly to Olympic sites.
With 2,500 officers deployed to Olympic sites, just 6,000 officers will remain to secure the rest of the city.
“We’re going to have an awful lot of people in town for the Games,” McDonnell said.
“Our goal is to be able to provide enhanced service everywhere,” he added.
Logistical planning for the wider event extends across multiple venues in the region.
The Olympics Special Events Unit, which plans security, has previously said Los Angeles will need to deploy about 6,700 officers across eight venues in 2028.
That venue operation would require another 700 to 800 patrol vehicles.
Those patrol vehicles represent specialized equipment that is currently not fully funded.
Even the funding that does exist comes with limits and delays.
The financial planning remains an ongoing process among local, state, and federal entities.
An LA28 spokesperson previously told The California Post that it was “in the planning process with local, state, and federal partners to determine what security and other related costs for the LA28 Games will be.”
And the Games are coming as the LAPD struggles to meet the needs of everyday policing across the city.
McDonnell told The Post in an exclusive interview last month that the department’s longstanding officer shortage has gone from bad to worse.
The department has been losing hundreds of officers.
Meanwhile, police officials have tried to bolster the beleaguered force by a staggering 4,000 more officers.
McDonnell said that the department’s uniformed force last month stood at about 8,550 officers.
That total was down by about 200 officers from February.
In February, the LAPD maintained a force of more than 8,700 cops.
The chief also revealed that the LAPD currently needs about 12,500 cops to ideally safeguard the city.
That assessment updated a previous estimate of about 12,000 officers that McDonnell cited to The Post in February.
Then there is the physical strategy designed to protect the venues during the Games.
McDonnell said the plan to secure the Games starts with a focus on protecting the venues themselves.
Just beyond those focus points, planners have designated a surrounding security perimeter.
A designated “yellow zone” surrounding the venues will be protected and heavily protected.
An additional area outside the yellow zones will see “extra coverage” based on the needs of the day.
“That is very labor intensive, as you can imagine, to be able to maintain that 24/7,” McDonnell said.
“We’re going to maintain a strong posture over the event areas for the duration of the entire Olympics, the two weeks in between, and then the Paralympic Games as well,” he explained.
“It’s an 87-day period where that area will be locked down and secured.”
The security posture must remain active 24 hours a day.
The lockdown will cover the duration of the entire Olympics.
The lockdown will cover the two weeks in between.
The lockdown will cover the Paralympic Games.
The lockdown will run for an 87-day period.
The venues will require protection.
The yellow zones will require protection.
The rest of the city will require protection.
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