Politics & Government

Defense Dept., Local Agencies to Run Night Drills in Tinley

The Village of Tinley Park will be the site for urban training exercises the nights of April 23-24. Officials want to make sure even residents in surrounding communities are informed and aren't alarmed.

On the slight chance Oak Forest residents hear helicopters overhead, distant sirens or even the faint explosion Tuesday and Wednesday night, they shouldn't panic.

The Village of Tinley Park has been engaged in an aggressive PR effort to inform its residents and those in neighboring communities that the U.S. Department of Defense will be staging regional urban training exercises this week on the grounds of the now-closed Tinley Park Mental Health Center.

The exercises, which will include local public safety agencies, will be run the nights of April 23 and April 24 and will involve helicopter operations and breaching buildings using live explosives, said Mayor Ed Zabrocki at the end of a village board meeting Tuesday, April 16. The drills will not be open to the public because of safety and security concerns for untrained spectators, a village press release stated Wednesday, April 17.

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READ: Gov. Quinn Declares State of Emergency

Although coordination with the Defense Department began months ago, Tinley Park officials acknowledged the eerie timing of these drills, given the April 15 bomb attack at the Boston Marathon. That's made the importance of the village's campaign even greater, to insure citizens aren't alarmed by what's going on, said Pat Carr, director of Tinley Park's Emergency Management Agency. The village has been sending press releases to surrounding communities, schools and other institutions that could be affected by these drills, he added.

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"We just want to make sure that all the residents in the area are aware of what's going on, not to be alarmed, especially in light of recent events," Carr said.

These exercises will simulate real-world situations and experiences, along with some of the same sights and sounds that would accompany them, Carr said. That means live explosives—although small—will be used, and helicopters will be flying over the village, although the Defense Department assured officials they would limit it to industrial areas, Carr added.

 

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