Shots rang out from a UCLA dormitory Wednesday morning as dozens of LAPD officers swooped in on the building — all part of a massive simulation of an attack at the real-life site of Olympic Village for the Summer 2028 games.
UCLA’s Hendrick Hall, which will house athletes during LA28, became the site of a mock terrorist attack for a SWAT exercise that included several police aircraft and throngs of uniformed officers armed to the teeth.
About 60 actors played terrified hostages, crazed shooters and bloody victims who screamed for help during the five-hour training — a dry run for protecting the Olympic Village in the event of attack during the Games.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said “everything fell into place” during the drill, which also included a police helicopter lowering officers onto the roof of the dorm.
“We focus on training for the Olympics, and certainly this is part of that, but it’s also training for every day, what could happen on a campus or on any other kind of a facility,” he added.
The exercises included simulations of active shooters and explosions at the eight-story dormitory as SWAT officers raced to the scene in tactical vests, carrying automatic weapons and battering rams.
McDonnell said police will do whatever it takes to secure the Olympic Games, even though the city currently doesn’t have enough cops or the funding to properly protect it during the Games.
“This will be the Athletes Village for the Olympics in 2028,” McDonnell added. “A major focus is on making sure everything works just perfectly here.”
The 2028 Games will require a security force of about 7,500 officers per day — a number the LAPD, with just 8,550 officers in all, cannot meet on its own, McDonnell said.
To make up for the shortage, the LAPD will be supplemented by officers from departments around the state and even outside California, the chief noted.
But with 2,500 officers deployed to Olympic sites, just 6,000 will remain to secure the rest of the city.
“We’re going to have an awful lot of people in town for the Games,” McDonnell said. “Our goal is to be able to provide enhanced service everywhere,” he added.
The Olympics Special Events Unit, which plans security, has previously said LA will need to deploy about 6,700 officers across eight venues in 2028.
That operation would require another 700 to 800 patrol vehicles, equipment that is not fully funded. Even the funding that does exist comes with limits and delays.
An LA28 spokesperson previously told The California Post that it was “in the planning process with local, state, and federal partners to determine what security and other related costs for the LA28 Games will be.”
The 2008 Games are coming as the LAPD struggles to meet the needs of everyday policing.
McDonnell last month exclusively told The Post the department’s longstanding officer shortage has gone from bad to worse — losing hundreds of officers while police officials have tried bolster the beleaguered force by a staggering 4,000 more.
McDonnell said that the department’s uniformed force last month stood at about 8,550, down about 200 officers from February when the LAPD had more than 8,700 cops.
The chief also revealed that the LAPD currently needs about 12,500 cops to ideally safeguard the city, updating a previous estimate of about 12,000 officers that he cited to the Post in February.
The plan to secure the Games starts with a focus on protecting the venues themselves, said McDonnell.
Just beyond those focus points, a “yellow zone” surrounding the venues will be protected and heavily protected.
An additional area outside the yellow zones will see “extra coverage” based on the needs of the day.
“That is very labor intensive, as you can imagine, to be able to maintain that 24/7,” McDonnell said.
“We’re going to maintain a strong posture over the event areas for the duration of the entire Olympics, the two weeks in between, and then the Paralympic Games as well,” he explained. “It’s an 87-day period where that area will be locked down and secured.”
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