Large-scale exercise at the Archcathedral of Lodz

L⁹On September 27, 2023, the Lodz Archcathedral hosted an exercise that was the culmination of the Prosperes project. During the large-scale event, which was attended by 250 people, including 150 police officers from the Lodz garrison, representatives of the Lodz Fire Department, 50 observers and other participants of the project, mechanisms for responding to emergencies that may occur in places of worship were practiced. Based on the procedures developed by the international consortium under the ProSPeReS project, the ways of response of the faithful (volunteers invited to participate in the exercises) were tested in the case of placing a dangerous package in the church, attack of the so-called active shooter, hostage situation and use of CBRN agents. During the coordinated activities of the services, the evacuation of the faithful from the place of worship was carried out, and the knowledge of the rules of behavior in the face of danger was checked among the respondents, that are, managers of religious places, staff and the faithful. The exercise ended with a meeting at the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Lodz, where the result of the conducted activities was discussed.