
Active Shooter Response Session 4: Law Enforcement Response
Rob PincusDescription
Historically, the only thing we really told people from the law enforcement community about active shooter response was; hide in the corner, and when we get there, let us do our thing stay down and stay out of the way. The truth is that's not good enough. We know that police response can be delayed, can be distracted, or it can be non-existent in the timeframe that you may need it. But when the police show up, you're absolutely going to want to get out of the way and let them do their jobs. The only ways that you might be able to help would be to communicate the bad guys in that direction or we're all okay in here.
Otherwise, let them do their jobs. Law enforcement is trained in a variety of different ways to handle spree killings and active shooters. You may see a single officer responding, you may see a team of patrol officers, You may see a mix of officers and deputies from different jurisdictions, or you may see a well-armed and obviously coordinated SWAT team moving into the environment. Regardless of the nature of the law enforcement response or what you think about what they're trying to do your job at that point is to let them take over. Remember, they may see you as a threat, they may see you as standing between them and stopping the threat.
And you don't wanna distract them. You don't wanna take up any resources from the police. If you're a good guy. And one of those resources is time and attention. So staying out of their way.
Now, if you have something vital to convey, if you absolutely know that the bad guy is in the closet in the room that you're in, it's probably gonna be important for you to speak up and communicate use that part of your plan to let them know. But if you merely want to join in because you hope to help don't, if you wanna think that you can jump up and run in some direction because now the police are there, don't unless they tell you to. If they tell you to follow their specific instructions. Now, remember when law enforcement responds they don't know how many bad guys there are and they don't know who the bad guy is. So they may actually treat you as a suspect.
You and everyone else there they may assume that anyone who's still moving and still breathing could potentially hurt them or the other people in the environment. They may also know some things about where other bad guys are. They may know some things about potential explosive devices or other traps that have been planted in the environment. So if they tell you to go into a certain room, move a certain way, go down a certain hall. They're probably gonna tell you to keep your hands up or your hands exposed so that they can see what you're doing and see that you aren't carrying anything, follow their directions.
Don't be surprised if you're put into an area where other officers are gonna search you you may even be put in handcuffs or zip ties. You may be told to sit down with your hands on your head for 20, 30, 40 minutes or an hour whatever you're told to do comply and put that into your head now because in the emotional duress, the trauma, the stress of everything you've just seen the panic, the urgency that you'll have to get away. The things that you may be compelled to do that aren't what you're being told to do. Just simply wanting to get off that area as property get away from where all this evil and tragedy had happened. Maybe you're just gonna be anxious to communicate to people that care about you and let them know that you're okay.
All of those things have to be put in the back. All of those things have to be put off until later. Follow the police instructions, follow all the emergency services, personnel instructions. You may interact with emergency medical personnel. You may interact with people from the fire department.
You may even interact with people who are part of a private security team that are part of that facility. Let them take control. Now, if you've seen a theme there, It's definitely important that you remember they need to be in control. They have a plan. They have training.
They probably have better tools than you do. And the only way that you could potentially help them, is by having more information than they do about what's been going on because you were there. Let's go back to our active shooter response course DVD that we put out previously and take a look at the advice we were putting out for interacting with law enforcement, during a spree killing event. If we're gonna address strategies for active shooter situations, we need to remember that we are not the only people in those situations. If you're talking about personal defense, you're talking about defense of your family, maybe even defense in your workplace when there is clearly one bad guy and you need to defend yourself because you were being threatened or because your family member is being threatened It's a much more controlled environment than in true active shooter situation.
In a true active shooter situation, you're going to have a mass of victims available to a single shooter or a team of shooters. And you're going to have a law enforcement response. You might have a private security response. You might even have other people in the environment like yourself who are legally armed and preparing to defend themselves with their families in that moment. As soon as you pull the firearm out, you need to be aware that everyone in that environment could think that you are the bad guy or another bad guy especially law enforcement, especially security and maybe even that private citizen.
And hopefully that private citizen is thinking about evading, they're thinking about hiding, and they're only gonna take action to defend themselves or their family. When there is an imminent direct threat. Now you're not going to be a threat to them because you're not going to be extending your gun waving it around. You're not gonna be threatening them directly You're not gonna be threatening their family members, hopefully there is no reason for them to perceive you as a threat. But the reality is, if you put yourself in that moment, you think about what happens when you see person with a gun and you just ran around the corner because there was somebody else with a gun shooting innocent people are shooting at you shooting at your family.
Obviously mistakes can be made. This is a tragic moment. You've got a bad guy. Who's actually taking out innocent victims. He might be threatening you or your family.
You have the means to defend yourself, but because of poor judgment or because of a misconstrued actor, because of mixed signals about exactly who you are and what your role is you end up getting shot by another good guy. It only makes the tragedy that much worse. Think about the law enforcement response. Someone who's been through training. Maybe they've been through my dark training program and they've been through other active shooter response training programs.
They've been told, move into the area, put yourself in danger, look for the person who's posing a threat and stop that person. Take direct assertive action to stop that person. They come around the corner. They see you with a gun again especially if it's extended, especially if you're firing, especially if you're acting in a threatening way. All of a sudden you become the bad guy in their mind.
Maybe the worst case scenario. If we really wanna push it all the way out to the limit, you're standing there. You've got your family behind you. Your gun is out, here comes law enforcement. They're come in with rifles.
They come in with a team. They are ready to take out the bad guy, but they see you. They focus their attention on you. You get hurt, You get taken out right there in front of your family by a good guy. And meanwhile while they're shooting at you, boom, here comes the bad guy takes out one of the law enforcement officers, takes out that private security guy takes out the other arm citizen who also could have been working with you or could have been working simply to protect themselves.
Now, these are all extreme situations but let's remember the active shooter that spree murder in a public environment is also an extreme situation. The worst thing that happens is you actually take it to another level of bad for you, your family your community, law enforcement, private security. So really think about how you're going to act. Really think about how you're going to look to the other people in your environment. If there are people there, if you're barricaded in a room if you've moved around a corner in that mall or in that parking lot, out behind a car or something like that, let people know I'm a good guy.
I am not a threat, I am legally armed. Be looking for law enforcement, be listening for the commands are gonna be issued by law enforcement of people to show them their hands. People to get down, people to get away, people announcing themselves as police officers, announcing themselves as security. Someone yells drop the gun. I don't know who it is behind you that's yelling, drop the gun, but let's think about it.
If there's an active shooter, someone who a spree murderer in this environment with an axe, with a shotgun with a pistol, who's just shooting innocent victims. Is it very likely that he's gonna stand behind you and say, drop the gun? Is it very likely that he's gonna stand behind you and say, police, let me see your hands. Probably not. I think the chances are, if you hear the bang bang sounds coming from that direction from the bad guy and you're here with your family behind you and you're ready to defend yourself.
If you need to, when you hear someone behind you say police drop the gun, I drop the gun. If I were in that situation. The reality is the bad guy is out there shooting people. He's trying to take people out as fast as he can. He's not giving verbal warnings.
He's not calling himself a police officer. And he's probably not gonna give you a chance to drop the gun. If he thinks you're a threat to him, he's probably just gonna try to take you out. We can expect that the police officers who are responding are going to be more aware, more in control better trained in that spree murderer. And if they come up behind you and they see a gun in your hand, they're going to give you a chance but they're probably not gonna give you two chances.
If you were to turn to look and see who was there, and I was the guy with the badge and the flashy red and blue lights in that public environment, I can't say that I wouldn't take the shot. As soon as I believed in my mind that that gun was gonna be turned on me, or use to hurt any of the other in the environment. Thinking about how you're going to be interacting with those law enforcement, security responders, thinking about how it might look to them or to the other person who's prepared to defend themselves, the other person who's carrying a firearm for personal protection is incredibly important. When you think about your active shooter response strategy, I can't overemphasize this enough. If you can get away, you never even pull your gun.
If you have to hide and barricade in place, keep your firearm close to your body. Keep your firearm low profile. If you have to use your firearm to defend yourself when you extend that gun, take the shots you need to take immediately you need to think about bringing that gun back in assessing your environment and letting everyone there know that you're trying to stop the bad guy. You're not part of the problem. Get that gun back into the holster get that gun down on the ground.
Because the next thing we're gonna talk about is how do you respond to that person with a firearm, even if you're not armed. And if you've got a mad rush of people that think you're the bad guy throwing books, chairs, tables, coming at you doing whatever they can to stop you, that's when a tragedy can happen. Now that gun goes off, maybe you are threatened. Maybe you perceive, you know, you just took out the bad guy, you feel like everything's all right. And now you've got 16 people coming at you with sharp, heavy objects.
You may need to defend yourself from them. This isn't the kind of situation you wanna be in. You're not there to be a hero. You're not there to stop the bad guy You're there to protect yourself. Maybe extending that to protecting your family or other people, be careful what you do with that firearm.
Think twice before you draw it. And if you do have it out make sure you're aware of everyone in your environment and how they're perceiving you during that active shooter situation.
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