Just a Drill: State Police with Automatic Weapons, Body Armor

If you were wondering why state police were over Ocean County College, outfitted with semi-automatic weapons, body armor and K-9 units, it was just a drill.

State Police were seen on the campus of Ocean County College in Toms River Thursday because of a drill “designed to mitigate or prevent terrorist activity,” according to an email distributed throughout the college by Robert Kumpf, director of security at OCC.

The New Jersey State Police was on campus in full force, with body armor, automatic weapons, and K-9 units positioned throughout the mall at OCC.  The exercise was for their specialized team part of a program called Target Hardening Response and Emergency Activation Team, or THREAT, that “encourages the public to work with law enforcement agencies to maintain high levels of safety,” the email said.

Officials said the State Police schedule a drill in a new location each week, focusing on what they call “hard” and “soft” targets.  A hard target would be a high-security location such as the nuclear power plant at Oyster Creek, and OCC would be considered a soft target.

Officials said there was no threat to public safety at the time and that it was just a drill.

Part of the exercise was to spread the word about the state police tip line: If you see any suspicious activity at all, the New Jersey State Police want you to contact their toll-free tip line at 1(866)4-SAFE-NJ (or 1(866)472-3365).