Chief Vosejpka reports on hoax

Police Chief Mark Vosejpka gave a report on the events concerning the shooting hoax to the New Prague City Council during its Monday, April 1, meeting.

Chief Vosejpka said that about 40 people from the various organizations involved met that Monday to discuss the hoax at the New Prague Middle School that occurred on Wednesday, March 20. They went through a step by step time frame of the events. He noted that everybody learned something, including what could be done better.

Vosejpka was one of the first officers at the scene. He turned the situation over to Captain Bruce Simon of the Savage Police Department. Eventually, Scott County Chief Deputy Dean Opatz was in charge of things overall. They realized early into the event that it was likely a hoax.

Several of the officers involved live in town and have children attending the middle school. Vosejpka said that was a benefit in that a lot of them knew the layout of the building. A possible negative was that they could have been worried about their child, but the officers remained calm.

One item they realized could be changed is the New Prague Area School District’s "Code Red" designation. The term is used for lockdowns in the school district, but Scott County also has a CodeRED system. That is used to notify county residents of various emergency situations from missing children to evacuations.

A public meeting on the shooting hoax and the bomb hoax on Thursday, March 21, will be held 6:30 p.m. at the New Prague High School auditorium. (See separate story.)