
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 29, 1993                   TAG: 9307290157
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

LACK OF COMMUNICATION BLAMED IN DRILL CONFUSION

A police officer who answered an emergency call at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital saw an armed man holding a nurse hostage in the emergency room. The officer didn't know that the incident was only a drill.

The officer's report to dispatchers brought other officers hurriedly to the scene before the situation was explained.

Maj. Charles Cameron, the city's acting police chief, said a communication breakdown occurred on both the hospital's and the city's parts before and during the incident last week.

But Cameron would not elaborate other than to say police "should have known" about the drill in advance and that the situation was under internal review.

Police officers, meantime, said the July 19 drill could have turned into a real disaster because of the lack of communication. The pretend gunman could have been shot if an officer thought he was endangering someone.

Hospital spokeswoman Deborah Myers said the drill, designed to improve hospital security, was planned with police. But Joseph Jay Moore III, a spokesman for the city, said the exercise was entirely run by the hospital.

Myers said hospital staff called police at least on the day of the drill to alert them.

But Cameron said police dispatchers didn't know about the drill until after the first officers arrived. A lieutenant with the hostage-negotiation team knew two days in advance but apparently didn't notify his supervisors, Cameron said.

by CNB