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Officials to hold largest security drill in Boston’s history

Firefighters and hazardous materials teams practiced responding to a suspicious package at Bowdoin Station in a previous security drill.john tlumacki/globe staff/file 2012

The largest security training exercise in Boston’s history
is slated to kick off at 8 a.m. Saturday with a simulated active school shooter drill in Brookline. It will continue with other drills during 24 hours and involve about 2,000 state and local personnel.

“The Urban Shield Program, as we’ve learned over the last year, is essential to our city’s safety at any time of crisis,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston.

“Since the 2013 Boston Marathon, we learned a lot about resiliency as a community and about professionalism of our first responders. This initiative has a lot to do with that,” Walsh said. Residents should not be alarmed, authorities said, if they see an increased police presence Saturday.

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Rene Fielding, director of the city’s office of emergency management, declined to give details about each drill to avoid tipping off participants.

In addition to the school shooter drill, participants will respond to drills involving an injured officer in Cambridge, a hospital evacuation in Boston, a hostage rescue of elected officials at Boston City Hall, an explosive device on a transit system in Boston, a structural collapse on Moon Island, and a simulation of a terrorist takeover at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.


Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com.