Though no crime had been committed, on Aug. 17, hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the country arrived at sunny Ohio Wesleyan. As part of the second annual Leadership in Crisis conference, the officers discussed their work experiences in hopes of educating police forces around the country.
John DiFava, chief of police at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the visiting officers, “served as the incident commander of the institution during the search of the Boston Marathon bombers who ultimately murdered MIT police officer Sean Collier,” according to an event pamphlet.
Michael Kehoe, “chief of police in Newtown, Connecticut,…was one of the first through the doors at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting,” was also in attendance.
“Each officer discussed the events they experienced, how they had to respond and what they have learned from those incidents,” said Public Safety officer Robert Wood.
According to Wood, “the presenters got the people who attend the event thinking about how they would respond if they encountered a similar tragedy.”
Wood organized the event and brought it to campus along with officer Tom Saccenti of Furman University’s university police.
Saccenti said, “This event was incredibly successful. We had a very large amount of people attend, and the feedback we received showed that so many people got a lot out of the conference.”
Saccenti said he would consider holding the event again in a different state so they could gather together people that have yet to attend the conference.