Police officers in full emergency gear stormed two houses on Riverside Avenue east of the Music Instruction Building Wednesday afternoon as part of a training exercise for an emergency response team.
The team used Ball State University-owned houses at 1605 and 1609 W. Riverside Ave. to practice simulated combat situations.
Indiana State Trooper John Zeiger, who helped coordinate the event, said the training was successful.
"We certainly appreciate everything the university let us do," he said. "Being able to go into an unknown house and do what we need to is a tremendous help to our training."
The exercises were not related to Ball State campus safety but were done near campus because Ball State is not using the houses, he said.
Zeiger is part of the Northfield Indiana State Police Emergency Response Team, which is one of three in the state. The team trains three days a month and for one week in the fall, Zeiger said. The 17 troopers who trained at the houses Wednesday used air-soft weapons that shot plastic pellets, he said.
Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of Facilities, Planning and Management said Ball State will demolish the two houses used in the training exercises as part of its long-term plan to construct an East Quad and an "undetermined academic building" on the 1600 block of Riverside Avenue.
Gene Burton, director of safety at Ball State, said that though the team didn't train specifically for a Ball State emergency, the exercise could help make campus safer.
"I think anytime you can improve overall training for police that might come into contact with university staff or students, it's a benefit," he said.
Zeiger said he thinks the response team will use Ball State owned property in the future provided Ball State still wants to allow it.
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