Stratton incident provided precautionary exercise for personnel
The Stratton Air Force Base located in Glenville was placed on lock-down this morning, but the incident was resolved once no threat was established.
A call came into the Glenville Police Department alleged there was a military person with a weapon driving a vehicle, said Eric Durr, spokesman for the state military. The caller had provided either a description of the vehicle and/or the license plate number, said Durr. Police then contacted the officials at the base and informed them of the call.
There was a lock-down, there was no threat, said Durr. `Somebody saw something that it wasn’t.`
Security forces at the base determined the vehicle had entered the base, so a lock-down was initiated for safety precautions. Officials located the vehicle and found the driver, which said she had been talking on a cell phone while driving. The lock-down was then lifted at the base.
`They had a chance to exercise the plans in place if someone with a weapon did enter the base,` said Durr.
A Veteran’s Day Breakfast sponsored by the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce was being held at the base when the incident occurred. Those in attendance were forced to stay at the site for some time before the area was confirmed to be secured.
`We got a little taste of what the uncertainty was all about with our fighting man and women,` said Assemblyman James Tedisco, whom was at the breakfast. `I think we got a sense of what our military goes through in a much, much larger way.`
Tedisco, R-Schenectady, said the lights started going on and off where they were located in the base and they were told the base was on lock-down. For the most part, he just said there was a sense of uncertainty. The longer the delay lasted, he said, the more the level of uncertainty rose.
`We all felt just about as safe as we could be I don’t think anybody was afraid,` said Tedisco.
Although Tedisco said he and other attendees just got to spend more time with the military personnel at the base and the incident didn’t ruin the breakfast in anyway.
`We were happy to serve them in some slight way for the way they served us,` said Tedisco.“
