Response to a Gun Scare at State Farm Headquarters Goes Off Well

State Farm Insurance Cos. and police officials said they were pleased with how a gun scare was handled last week, though the company found at least one error in its communication with employees.  
 
"It's a learning experience. We learn from every incident," State Farm spokesman Fraser Engerman said Monday. 
 
About 2,000 employees spent almost two hours Thursday afternoon in the lower level of the company's corporate headquarters at Veterans Parkway and Washington Street after a passer-by reported seeing a man with a "long gun" outside the building. 
 
Police eventually determined the person actually saw a custodian holding what probably was a pipe. The incident drew more than 100 police officers and other emergency agencies to the building, which was sealed off with a perimeter while officers searched the building. 
 
Bloomington Assistant Chief of Police Robert J. Wall, incident commander at the scene, said he was pleased with how the situation was handled, including the number of agencies and how they coordinayed with each other and and State Farm. 
 
"I don't think we would have done anything differently," he said. "We always place public safety first." 
 
"I couldn't be more pleased with the response of our police department as well as all the assisting agencies," Wall said. 
 
Overtime and other expenses associated with the police response will come out of individual agency's budgets, Wall said. 
 
He said a price cannot be put on the safety of people. 
 
The Bloomington-based insurer's priority is the safety and security of its employees, Engerman said. Plans are in place for employees to be directed to the basement in case of a weather-related or another possible emergency, and they followed that plan last week, he said. 
 
People were concerned and upset, but they remained calm for the most part and took directions well, Engerman said. State Farm officials did the best they could to inform employees about what was happening as quickly -- but also as accurately -- as possible, he said. 
 
Complications with the company's intercom system got in the way of one piece of correct information. 
 
A preprogrammed tornado announcement sent people to the lower level when the company had intended to send out an emergency warning, Engerman said. State Farm never intended to mislead or give employees the wrong information, he said. 
 
"This was an unfortunate lockup in the system," Engerman said. 
 
State Farm will review its intercom system to prevent the same mistake in case of a future need, he said. 
 
Those in the company's administrative services area, who oversee crisis planning and building security, also will re-examine Thursday's incident more fully in the coming days and weeks to more specifically identify what went well and if anything else in the plans went awry, Engerman said. 
 
State Farm also plans to meet with law enforcement, though a date has not yet been scheduled, said Engerman, who also complimented the police on how quickly they responded and took control of the situation. 
 
"They're superbly trained and know exactly what to do," Engerman said. 
 
Wall said nearly 50 Bloomington police officers were at the scene along with about three dozen total from McLean County sheriff's police and Normal police. There also was at least one officer from LeRoy and command staff from the state police. 
 
Wall also praised the efforts of the McLean County Emergency Management Agency, whose vehicle was set up as a command post. An Illinois Homeland Security vehicle based in Peoria was also at the scene. 
 
"It also served as excellent training for the unification of several different agencies in a possibly high stress situation," Wall said. 
 
No special security precautions were taken at State Farm's downtown Bloomington building, but workers at State Farm's Corporate South, which is about a mile south of the headquarters, also were sent to the basement of their building for a short time.