Law enforcement officials will close part of Waskosim’s Rock Reservation in Chilmark on Sept. 10 to conduct emergency response drills. 

The Dukes County Sheriff’s Office received the sign off on Monday from the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, which owns the conservation property, to hold the drill from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“On the staff level, we are totally a go for this...” said Harrison Kisiel, superintendent of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. 

The drill, which is part of yearly training for Island police, EMS and other law enforcement officers, aims to simulate a high-risk manhunt operation in the forest and brush on the Vineyard, according to Greg Arpin, the assistant superintendent and chief of deputies at the sheriff’s office. 

Another drill on the same day will simulate a search and rescue operation using several drones to locate people and test local radio infrastructure. 

About 20 local public safety, tactical EMS and crisis negotiator officers will participate in the drill, according to Mr. Arpin. 

This is the first time such a drill will take place on a Land Bank property. 

Mr. Kisiel said the drill will not shut down the entire property. Interior trails throughout the property will close, while the northernmost hiking loop, accessible from the parking lot off of North Road, and the universal access parking lot off of Mill Brook Road, will remain open. The loop brings visitors from the main trailhead to the interior field and back.

Officers and signs will be stationed at each of the property’s five public entrances, said Mr. Kisiel. The drill will not make any use of vehicles beyond the parking lots. 

Mr. Kisiel said the training stemmed from an incident in May 2024, when a man stabbed another man in the face, prompting an hour-long search through the woods in West Tisbury, the Gazette previously reported. 

“The tactical team’s understanding is...this is what it might be like if someone is in the brush in the woods of this Island, and we have to try and coordinate all these efforts and get access,” said Mr. Kisiel. 

In high-risk situations, like a manhunt for a fugitive armed with a weapon, state responders often take hours to arrive on the Island, requiring Vineyard officials to carry out initial responses, said Mr. Arpin. 

“The Island needs to be prepared for an initial response…that will take us to the next few hours of any incident,” he said.