Exclusive | LAPD reveals plan to protect Olympic athletes and event venues from terror attacks at UCLA training exercise

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 cit...