Active Shooter Training
Active shooter incidents are often unpredictable and evolve quickly. Athena is here to help you get the resources you need for getting active shooter training. In the midst of the chaos of a shoot out, anyone can play an integral role in mitigating the impacts of an active shooter incident. Athena is there to help you get prepared to use these resources on this website to help you prepare for and respond to an active shooter incident.
(Source https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/active-shooter-preparedness)
Active shooting events can occur almost anywhere and they
always evolve quickly. With proper training, any person can play a role during these incidents, that can help to mitigate the consequences of the incident. This training will provide products, tools, and resources that can help not only you but an entire community to be prepared to respond to an active shooter.
In an active shooter incident, the victims are rarely methodically chosen nor can you find anything more than a generalized pattern in knowing who will be shot at. In this training, you will learn through booklets, guides, and cards about the profile of an active shooter. You will learn how you need to respond to an active shooter or any other situation in your workplace that involves violence. You will be trained about how to create an emergency action plan that can be put in place in such situations. There will also be instruction on recognizing the signs that have the potential for violence in your workplace.
You need to be constantly informed about the situation or environment around you and if you notice something that can lead to an active shooting incident or other violence, you must alert the authorities right away. You can also sign up to receive alerts about such emergencies so that you are constantly aware of the environment and the dangers it can bring. During the training, you will be taught how to make a plan with your family and others near to you, about what you need to do when you are confronted with an active shooter. Start with identifying the nearest exits, at least two, that can give you a path for escape, and also identify any places where you can hide and remain safe. Remember that persons with disabilities or other functional problems may need special plans. Make sure that every member of your family knows what they have to do in such situations and will do this automatically when confronted with such situations.
One of the things that are stressed during this training is that you must run and escape from the shooter if it is possible. This has to be the top priority. Do not bother about your belongings. Leave them behind, help others to escape, but whether others agree or not, save your own life and get out of that place as soon as possible. While you are doing so, warn others not to enter that area. Once you are in a relatively safe area, see if you can call up the police, and describe the location where it is happening, the shooter, and the weapons that are being used.
Once you have found a place where the shooter cannot see you, keep down and keep quiet and still. Make sure that all your electronic devices are silenced and will not even vibrate, as this can give an idea of your presence to the shooter or accomplices. Turn off lights, lock and if possible block doors. Do not hide in a group, but spread yourselves out along walls, so that you present less of a target to the shooter. Use text messages to communicate with people or the police so that your location is known to as many people as possible. Putting a sign in a window can convey this information in a better way if you have the means to do so. Stay in the place where your safety is assured until the police arrive and give you the clearance to move out. Hide in a place that is not being seen directly by the shooter, and where you can get protection from any shots fired in your direction.
Fighting must be an absolute last resort. If you do decide to do so, at risk to your life, be as aggressive as possible. In this situation, it can be advantageous to take help from others using whatever you can find as weapons. It can be chairs, scissors, books, fire extinguishers or other hard and heavy things that come to hand. You must be prepared to injure the shooter severely, even lethally as this can save your life as well as that of others. Improvise weapons and throw them so that the shooter is distracted and can be disarmed. There is no pressure on you to act a hero, and fight only if you can commit yourself to do so.
Once the incident is over, and the law enforcement officials have entered the scene stay where you are, keep your hands visible and preferably empty. Officers responding to the situation will have guns, pepper spray and tear gas to handle the situation and they do not know your identity till they have controlled it and identified you. They will give commands which you must follow immediately, as they are for your safety. Listen to the instructions given and evacuate the areas as they instruct you to do. First, look after yourself, but help others who are injured or traumatized before the first aid first responders arrive. Ask the wounded people to turn on to their sides ad keep them warm if possible.
Once you are back home and safe from the active shooter situation, attend to your minor injuries if any and that of your family members or others with you. Such active shooter incidents can be quite traumatic and leave a lasting effect on you and your family members. It cannot harm to consider asking for help from professionals, psychiatrists, or others. It is almost certain that law enforcement agencies will be able to guide you in this matter.
It is rather unfortunate that such active shooter incidents keep on happening in spite of the best efforts of the authorities to control them. On your part, you can only arrange for your safety and that of the others in your family. Training to deal with this situation leaves you in better control of things so that you have a definite plan of action that can go along way in preventing injury and loss of life.
The objective of this emergency action plan template is to help organizations prepare their personnel for active shooter scenarios. This template documents basic information recommended for an effective emergency action plan. Organizations are encouraged to consider their unique circumstances and/or structure to ensure a more comprehensive plan. It applies to permanent employees, temporary employees, contractors, and visitors associated with this organization.
This plan should be updated when the information listed below requires modification. The crisis manager will review this plan for accuracy on a reoccurring basis.