The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office Priority Response Team conducted a Mass Casualty Attack training exercise on Wednesday, Aug. 12, the day before more than 217,000 students, including those at Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay campuses, returned to classrooms for the first day of school.
The drill brought together the sheriff's Priority Response Team, Miami-Dade Schools Police and other public safety partners to test communication protocols and emergency coordination, the agency announced on X late that night.
The exercise was separate from a large-scale active assailant drill Miami-Dade Schools Police held at John A. Ferguson Senior High School on July 30. That earlier exercise was led by Schools Police Chief Ivan Silva. The Aug. 12 drill was run by the sheriff's office and its specialized tactical unit.
What the Priority Response Team does
The PRT sits within the sheriff's Homeland Security Bureau. Its core mission, according to the agency's website, is to deliver a rapid, coordinated response to mass casualty attacks, active shooter situations and acts of terrorism.
Teams of six or seven deputies, equipped with ballistic vests, helmets, rifles, breaching tools and shields, are stationed across the county covering both the north and south ends. Formal training sessions run every eight weeks, with squad-level drills conducted weekly.
The unit was created after the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
A real-world test in February
On Feb. 4, the PRT responded to a reported school threat at Christopher Columbus High School and nearby St. Brendan Elementary and High School. Sgt. Edwin Diaz, a PRT team leader, received the alert at 10:37 a.m. and was inside Columbus High by 10:38 a.m. Both schools were fully cleared by 10:49 a.m. The call was ultimately deemed a false alarm.
"Because multiple calls were coming in, we couldn't rule it out as a hoax," Diaz said in a Miami-Dade County account of the Feb. 4 response.
That under-two-minute arrival time is what the Aug. 12 communication drill aims to preserve across agencies.
What parents should know
The sheriff's office did not disclose which school or schools hosted the Aug. 12 exercise or how many personnel participated. The linked video on the agency's post may contain additional details, but specifics beyond the communication focus were not confirmed in the public announcement.
Residents who see suspicious activity near schools can call 911 for emergencies or reach the sheriff's non-emergency line at 305-476-5423.
