Active Shooter Prevention: Whether you are conducting active shooter training in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Madison, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Grand Rapids, Michigan, or Des Moines, Iowa, the research indicates the same findings. It has been proven that many planned acts of targeted violence can and have been stopped before the attack begins. Prevention is EVERYONE’S responsibility. Whether a private business, house of worship, public organization, community partners, individual citizens, local, state, and federal law enforcement, health, or mental health care professionals, our entire community needs to be aware of warning signs and how to report these concerns to an organization or a community-based multidisciplinary behavioral threat assessment team, this problem is a people problem. People are what can prevent it and improve it.

Active Shooter Training Response Alternatives on a macro and micro level: 

Active Shooter Training for Businesses – Incorporating both organizational and personal response strategies prepares individuals on both a macro and micro level, which is essential. The organization develops policies, procedures, and processes, and then regularly tests them to ensure their effectiveness. An organization’s people implement and utilize them to protect themselves and others. Two points for consideration:

First, the communication and response alternatives to be used in an active threat environment can NOT be designed with the mindset that “Our organization is going only to do that communication process or utilize these specific protective measures in an active shooter event, because if you have processes and plans that will only be utilized for the “Big One” those plans will never materialize on the chaos of an active shooter attack. An organization should utilize a communication plan/process that spans all crises and has redundancy in communication pathways, as well as initiators of that communication. Getting a quick notification to staff, no matter where they are, with specific, detailed information regarding the threat allows those caught in the attack to make better decisions on their response.  This communication should be two-way so the location of the injured and the accounting for staff can be accomplished. This process needs to be tested monthly, along with the ability of the newest staff member to successfully utilize it, even without the organization’s leadership being present. Both an organization’s staff and visitors, along with first responders, share a common characteristic in their communication needs: ‘What they know, drives what they do.’ Information about a threat’s location, movement, and means can help drive what survivors do as well as what first responders do. We need to feed that intelligence to both groups.  

Active shooter response plans for an organization should consider addressing the human threat response and how to move through the steps quickly to make informed decisions and take action that increases one’s survivability.  Inform and train on potential evacuation routes, the use of cover and concealment to reach exits and lockable spaces, and strategies such as the PW Training Group’s ‘Get Low and Go’ and ‘What Now?’ Checklist, also cannot sit on a shelf waiting for the “Big One.”  Review them, train them, circulate them in regular trainings such as PW Training Group’s ‘5 MINUTE FRIDAY’ Training strategy – Active Threat/Active Shooter Training | Expert Preparedness.

Organizational active threat/shooter staff training should not just focus on the workplace. Staff’s personal life environments, travel to and from work, external meetings, business trips, etc., need to be addressed and considered in a holistic approach to an active shooter.       

Individual Active Shooter Training – Creating response plans, or what we call “Action Scripts,” for the places one frequents will substantially enhance one’s survivability. These “Action Scripts” can be universal, so you do not have to create a new one every time you are at a new location. For example, creating an “Open Area Action Script” could apply to your house of worship or a farmers’ market. You may not be able to follow your universal action script exactly. Still, it provides a framework to start and then add the unique logistics, topographical, or spatial elements you encounter.      

• Law Enforcement Response – As far as incident command is concerned, an active shooter attack is the responsibility of law enforcement. Still, it will require local, regional, and sometimes state and Federal law enforcement support, as well as fire, EMS, private ambulances, hospitals, emergency management, the organization, and the community to be part of the solution.  As an example, I was the Incident Commander for the 2012 Sikh Temple attack in Oak Creek, WI. I requested a SMART (Suburban Mutual Aid Response Team) call out for 35 mutual aid squads. What we received was the “Blue Sunami” totaling 440 law enforcement personnel and over 80 fire personnel. This was both a blessing and a curse, as without that response, we would not have been able to accomplish all the tactical objectives we needed to. The curse was managing all those responders who wanted to help. We had to push all responders through a staging area and protect against self-deployments into a large, volatile scene to avoid a “blue on blue” shooting.      
• Fire / EMS Response – An active shooter incident, within the incident command system, may be the responsibility of law enforcement. Still, without fire and EMS working side by side in the warm zone, many injured individuals will not survive. Whether it is the Rescue Task Force, Strike Team Concept, some hybrid, or even an offshoot that your region practices, your fire and EMS personnel must know and be comfortable with the requirements of themselves and law enforcement working together as a team in the warm zone to transport the injured to a trauma center. The casualties of an active shooter need bright lights and surgical steel, meaning one of the critical tasks to stop the dying is implementing a time-sensitive transport plan to a trauma center. This needs to be accomplished well before the once-thought, quick enough “Golden Hour” has ticked away; the time you have is far less. You are not just fighting a criminal with a gun in an active shooter; you are also fighting the clock. So, all first responders upon arrival at the incident need to look for employment because there will be a lot to accomplish and a short time to do it, first for law enforcement, “Stopping the Killing.” Then, fire and EMS are ready, stood up, and prepared to help “Stop the Dying” as part of a rescue task force, as both are time-sensitive, and we do not have any time to waste.         
• Definitive Care – Hospitals need to be included in pre-event planning, communication, decision-making, and training with local first responders. Transporting and dumping casualties at a single hospital only transfers the incident, chaos, and poor outcomes. Mass trauma events need a communicated, resource considered, level of trauma and patient capabilities transport plan, and hospitals need to be a significant part of instituting that plan.  
• Recovery – Recovery will start with reunification and notification, and it needs to be pre-planned, trained, and done in an empathetic, caring manner. Do not let being unprepared for your staff’s loved ones’ worst day of their life being made worse by “winging” reunification and notification. A great course for managing the many moving parts of reunification is C3 Pathway’s and the ‘I Love You Guys’ School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management Course (SSAVEIM – SSAVEIM Training). Private organizations can also gain valuable insights from this course for their recovery phase. Further recovery is multi-faceted for survivors, loved ones of those injured or killed, and anyone in the organization, whether present or not, they have a stake. All first responders, including dispatchers, command, hospital staff, support staff, EM Staff, etc., along with the community. The needs and what is best differ from case to case. Still, it is critical to assign someone to immediately begin identifying all those who may need mental health defusing, mental health support, grief support, peer-to-peer support, and/or religious support. This needs to start immediately and should not be delayed for days or weeks. It should be assigned and overseen by someone with the proper background and empathy.