Franklin is blessed to be what I consider a very safe city. That’s due in large part to Mayor Steve Olson’s wonderful police department.

A little over two weeks before the Nashville murders Olson posted the following on his Facebook page.

ICYMI from March 9, 2023…

The City of Franklin, me, the Common Council, Chief Oliva, the Fire and Police Commission all believe that continuous training of our Police Officers is vital to the safety of our community. Innocents, victims, perpetrators and the officers’ lives are at stake. After experiencing active shooter simulations at the FBI Citizens Academy, Chief Oliva and I often discussed ways to offer our officers similar training without taking away from their off-duty time or taking them off the streets for an extended period. The MILO system was ideal yet we didn’t have funds available to purchase such a flexible and effective training tool until late 2022 when the Chief applied for and received a state of Wisconsin grant specifically for this training purpose. THIS SYSTEM IS A DECISION TRAINING TOOL OFFERING THE OFFICER ALL THE OPTIONS TO RESOLVE A SHOOT/DON’T SHOOT ENCOUNTER in a non-lethal environment. Shoot, taser, spray, hands on or stand down.

I had the opportunity today to get a demo from Chief Oliva, Captains Goens and Morris and to try a few scenarios. This powerful tool will continue to improve the decision making skills of our officers with over 900 interactive 180 degree scenes with multiple outcomes. It will make our officers safer and more effective officers that will keep all of us better protected and safer. Thanks Chief for placing a high emphasis on training and seeking the grant. I’m pleased that those participating in the Franklin Police Citizens Academy will get a session on the MILO and experience some of the feelings our officers experience. For the record, I did pretty well. all of my shooters were neutralized and in the four scenarios I was clearly shown how fast bad things could happen and how quickly our officers need to decide and react. Sign up for the citizens academy and sleep better tonight.