Cheektowaga, N.Y. (WBEN) - To enhance the safety and security of the region’s largest shopping center, the Walden Galleria Mall hosted its second security lockdown drill of the year on Wednesday.
The procedure was a precautionary measure conducted by Walden Galleria Security, with the assistance of Cheektowaga Police, in order to equip employees with proper training in the case of an emergency.
"The mall does this on a quarterly basis," said Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Gould on Wednesday. "It's part of our overall response plan to incidents that may happen at the mall. We've helped them develop a plan, it's a plan that we've practiced. ... As you can imagine, there's turnover and staff at retail establishments, so it helps to make sure that the current staff understands what should happen in the event of emergency. It also helps test some of their communication systems within the mall."
Wednesday's drill, just as it usually goes, was a simple 15-minute procedure that saw all shops and stores close their doors - some with employees still shopping inside - while police and security officials go through the basics.
"We just get a notification saying that the lockdown is going to take place, we get a notification the day before it starts, and then again when it does start," said owner of Tee Shirt University, Dave Lagier. "We just close our doors, we put a colored card in the window to signify that we're OK. Green color means you're OK, red color is supposed to indicate you're in trouble, of some sort. We just close the doors, and wait for the drill to be over with and then we re-open."
Although these drills are fairly quick, it does give a sense as to how procedures will go if there ever happens to be a need to lock down the mall. There have been past incidents at the Walden Galleria that have seen a need for police assistance, but nothing that has led to a lock down of any sorts.
While many of the store managers or owners understand the meaning behind the drills, they are still skeptical of how everything would actually break down if an actual incident occurred that called for a real lock down.
"I feel like it does help us in case that scenario does happen, but it also doesn't help, because you just won't ever expect that happening until it happens," said Emily Beyers from the BFLO Store.
As for Mall Security and Cheektowaga Police, they put in a lot of effort into making sure they're prepared as best as possible. They even go as far as reviewing other incidents around the country to learn from the response efforts of those instances.
"We have a great relationship with the Pyramid Management Group and the people who run their security operations," Chief Gould said. "We've done training within the mall after hours, where we do active shooter training, even so far as to involve the fire department, because we saw in some other incidents across the nation where the fire department was not prepared to be in a 'hot zone,' they call it, where there was some act of violence maybe still going on. So we have worked very hard to make sure that we're prepared to rush in to stop whatever's happening, and then render aid to anybody who might be hurt. That works, because it's a partnership between the mall management, between the store operators and between us, as a police department."
Wednesday's drill held a higher level of importance and severity given the recent mass shooting in Buffalo at the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue, as well as the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Not only was the significance of the drill felt among security and police officials, store managers also felt that same level of importance.
"I feel like we're definitely taking it a lot more seriously now, especially after that horrible incident. I think they're actually very useful," said Nathan, who works at Great Escape Adventures. "Everyone's able to find out a safe space, know where to go. Stores are able to help out people in case of an emergency, and everyone can take these as an opportunity to understand where the safe spots in the mall are and be sure to be safe at all times."
Chief Gould and his staff also noticed some of the employees taking the drill a little more seriously on Wednesday.
"Sometimes, it's similar to a fire drill in school, it becomes routine that you just do these every so often. But following an the event, especially when it was so close to us here at home, when you do a drill that's meant to prepare you for something like that, I have to assume that it's going to mean a little bit more to the people who are involved when when we do it so close after an incident that has happened," he said.
More from Chief Gould is available in the player below: