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Berkeley High became the scene of a virtual battleground over spring break when the Berkeley Police Department SWAT team—known as the Barricaded Subject Hostage Negotiation Team (BSHNT)—descended on the campus Thursday.  

BSHNT was carrying out its annual exercise, Ed Galvan, public information officer for the BPD told the Daily Planet. 

Three negotiators from the FBI in San Francisco and a team from the University of California Berkeley Police Department (UCBPD) were also present during the training. 

“Every year we like to do one major exercise and we like to use a facility within the community which we would have to use in the future. This year we chose Berkeley High because we might have to be here in an emergency situation one day.” 

Galvan was role-playing as a Berkeley High chemistry teacher in an “active shooter situation.” “An ‘active shooter situation,’” he explained, “is when an unknown person comes into the building and starts shooting. In this case, the BSHNT team has to identify which building the shooter is in at Berkeley High and then come up with a plan of how to approach the problem. They can either negotiate with the shooter or try to apprehend him. After the end of the exercise we debrief and go over what went well and what needs improvement.” 

The exercise—which started at 1 p.m.—went on till 3 in the afternoon. Most of the action centered around the C Building which is attached to the G Building at Berkeley High. The eerie silence of the empty courtyard was periodically broken by activity inside the mobile stations and sporadic bursts of footsteps coming from different classrooms. 

“Given the rising tide of violence at school, we should always be ready to go,” said Officer Darrin Rafferty, who was acting as part of the training in terms of ensuring safety for the people involved. 

Rafferty—who is part of the Telegraph Avenue patrol team—said he faces different emergency situations during his beat everyday. 

“This kind of training helps us to be ready for any kind of situation. There’s quite a variety of people out there on the streets everyday,” he said.  

The BPD have used their BSHNT team on several occasions in the past, most recently during a shoot-out at a hip-hop party inside a warehouse at San Pablo Avenue. 

“We responded to the shooting but lost the person in the crowd. There was another incident back in 1990 at Henry’s Bar near the UCB campus. A heavily armed young man took 37 hostages and started shooting at them,” said Rafferty.  

Galvan added that the department had met with no trouble during spring break this year. “Everyone is well behaved,” he said smiling. “People usually don’t come to Berkeley. They go away to warmer climates or go home. As a result things have been good so far.” 

The BSHNT team also paid a visit to the Berkeley Community College and the  

City Hall at 2180 Milvia St. earlier in the  

morning. 

“BCC was also a shooter situation,” said Galvan. “Different modulations went on to identify where the shooting came from. It was like a real-life situation because business was open at the time. Negotiations with the suspect and use of force were both used.” 

The City Hall staff gave the team a tour of where all the elevators and stairs were, said Galvan. “It’s important to become familiar with the different levels and offices in case we need to go in there someday,” he said. 

Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee 

The Berkeley Police Department SWAT Team descended upon Berkeley High School Thursday for its annual exercises.