“To Protect and Serve.” While the phrase is simple, the effort required to put that into practice requires time, energy, and most importantly a great deal of training. Each year State Police across the country go through drills and basic training in order to prepare for the worst situations that they may come across. This past year, the state of Pennsylvania choose Harrold School as its site for what they called “Operation Nighthawk”.

As daunting as it sounds, “Operation Nighthawk” is for the greater good. The troops involved included Troops A-Greensburg, G-Hollidaysburg, H-Harrisburg. The officers conducted school shooter and intruder drills on August 25th and 26th. Chief Officer Lander says “They wanted to use the Greensburg Area and knew that Hempfield was a big enough area that they needed”. The drills they conducted are necessary to make schools feel safer; they create a better environment to learn instead of potential school threats.

The tactics have been used effectively and efficiently already. Here in Hempfield, police reacted to a school threat and made sure everyone was safe and counted for.