Wrangell’s police department will hold a meeting today in response to a recent fraudulent phone call stating a local child had been abducted.
The caller – who they don’t think was local – demanded money while threatening additional violence.
Misinformation spread in the community after the extortion phone call was made, resulting in the elementary school locking down.
Wrangell Police Chief Gene Meek said the event gave lessons to local responders.
He said, “This wasn’t a true crisis, but even the simulated crisis was something that we could train off of.”
He said this experience allowed him to see what went well and what didn’t.
“We had additional resources available to us,” Meek said. “I put drones up over the schools, just for extra coverage. The Fire Department came out. Put drones up, observed for anything that was suspicious in nature, just in case. “
Meek said there were other takeaways that the department needs to work on, including communication outside the department.
“Anytime a situation like this comes up, the first thing that will always fail is communications,” he said. “In this circumstance, it was communications with the community. In some other situations, dispatch will be quickly overwhelmed.”
He said parents need to trust the school and the police department in threatening situations. And today’s meeting at the Nolan Center is a start. Wrangell officials, parents and community members will meet at 5 p.m. to discuss the after-action report and the appropriate way to handle these situations in the future.
