the active shooter crisis- commentary and resources

7/18/2019 The Active Shooter Crisis- Commentary and Resources

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The shooting rampage last January 4, 2013 in Cavite, killing8 (including children and a pregnant woman) and wounding 9 others,came as a surprise to me !earning that there was even an accompliceto do reloading o" ammo while the gunman was #ring indiscriminatelyat innocent $ystanders and passers$y, also added to the shoc%

&hile incidents o" people running amok are not necessarilyuncommon, assailants going to the e'tent o" craed shooting spreeand cold mass murder are still considered a rarity, i" not unheard o" inour culture This is supposedly so given the still typical inoy*s peace+loving, reveler*s psyche and the pro+li"e value system deeply instilled$y the ultra+conservative Church "or ages past -ut along with thee'treme e.ects o" climate change (remem$er Ondoy and Pablo), itdawned upon me that scenarios o" purposeless %illings are also now to$e anticipated in our increasingly $ecoming violent society ++ a socio- psychological climate change, so to spea%

/s asset protection custodians o" our respective organiations, we tryto provide response plans "or every possi$le critical scenario, $e itnatural or man+made, and strive to master these through drills andsimulation e'ercises To this end, we conduct #re and earthua%e drillsat least twice a year and occasionally, armed ro$$ery and $om$ threate'ercises, among others owever, in all honesty, very "ew to nonehave a solid contingency plan in place, much more are conductingdrills, towards dealing with an Active Shooter crisis scenario am alsonot even sure i" our en"orcement agencies have already cra"tedguidelines in managing such an incident considering that Hostage

Crisis management and Use of Force Continuum guidelines, $oth "orlaw en"orcement and private security practice, are also still in thewor%s This should $e understanda$le though as the active shooterconcept has only entered the le'icon recently, in the wa%e o" successive high+pro#le, high+casualty shooting incidents in the 5 o" latter years Colum$ine*s, 6irginia Tech*s and more recently, 5andyoo%*s grisly shooting o" pupils as young as 7 years old, are compellingtragedies which will go down as among the worst in the annals o" en"orcement history /nd while most that come to mind have occurredin educational settings, such incidents are not only con#ned in schoolenvironments as they have also happened in o8ce $uildings,

commercial esta$lishments and open spaces &ho could "orget, "orinstance, the 9ar% :night*s cinema massacre in Colorado a "ewmonths $ac%; n "act, $ased on the compendium o" past incidentscompiled $y <=9, there had $een at least 324 active shootercases worldwide, with signi#cant ma>ority ta%ing place in the 5 ?ultiple casualties have resulted in most cases, as with the scoresdead in the recent school shootings, to as high as the 69 fatalities inthe <orway shooting in 2011



5uch occurrence in hilippine setting, however, will still come as acultural shoc% and security nightmare $ut which is something we haveto anticipate and strive to prepare "or given, perhaps, our much+lesser+to+$e+desired inoy inclination ++ that o" $eing a copycat even

suspect that Cavite gunman -ae may have patterned his attac%s a"terthe very recent Connecticut school carnage which reports have $eenwidely aired in $oth local and international news channels "or days

Active shooter has $een de#ned $y 5 omeland 5ecurity as anindividual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in aconned and populated area !herein" in most cases" there is no pattern or method to their selection of targeted victims ncidentsinvolving an active shooter who is deranged and unpredicta$le, arevery dynamic and evolve rapidly ?uch unli%e in ro$$eries and hostagesituations where there are still wor%a$le o$>ectives to the assailant*s

mind and where negotiation or tactical delays could still $e consideredas primary options, an active shooter scenario is "ar more dangerousand distur$ing, as the assailant*s apparent purpose is to %ill as manytargets as possi$le, with every opportunity, resources and timeavaila$le at his disposal Considering then the time element and thehigh+casualty potential o" such incident, immediate neutraliation o" the attac%er has $een the primary resolution to such crisis in most o" the cases &hereas, due to the ultrahigh+ris% nature o" such scenario,the "orce continuum wheel is, in most cases, instantly rotated towardsthe last option@ su$>ugation $y use o" lethal "orce /s to who should doit and as how uic%ly and possi$ly could this $e done, are the constant

varia$les

/s asserted $y "oreign e'perts and contained in most protocols, thestandard action steps are as "ollows@ e'ecute loc%down procedures,minimie the target pro#le, and wait for the police to neutralizethe situation

5tatistically, police response period "rom the time o" the occurrence inmost o" such incidents in the 5, too% around 10+17 minutes This isstill way "ast $y our local standards and yet active shooter cases stillyielded an average o" around 4 "atalities in those scenarios Teleport

$ac% to the hilippines given the same circumstances and grounded inour local conditions, and you can e'pect dou$le o" that average, as inthe Cavite*s %illing spree

Truth $e told, how prepared are we in dealing with such scenariosconsidering, "or e'ample, our #re department*s or law en"orcement*sstandard response time, as eternally portrayed in the movies; nsituations where every tic% o" the cloc% could instantly mean a loss o"



li"e, who should act as the #rst responders to neutralie the situation;n such conditions, how, where and when could we draw the line inimplementing the last option o" use o" applied (lethal) "orce; 5hould itreally $e the last resort in a given situation; Could the circumstanceswarrant any legitimately+armed citien to intervene towards di.using

the situation; &ould our laws and protocols allow or openly encouragethe e'tent o" such private intervention or will it $e an aw%ward shoot+now+e'plain+later mode "or private responders and practitioners;

This alarming phenomenon has admittedly rede#ned the lawen"orcement practices and protocols a$road and the a$ove are someo" the practical considerations which, thin%, are worthy o" closere'amining towards handling and ris% mitigation o" such a scenario inlocal settings ncidents li%e this are here to stay and reoccur, so theearlier we (law en"orcement and practitioners) could cra"t our standardresponse and localied protocols in dealing with such a scenario, the

$etter "or the industry and us all

nterestingly, in an A- article on school shooting $y ?ichael -uerger,h9 and Beo.rey -uerger, h9, it was underscored on a lawen"orcer*s perspective that #$t%s no! recogni&ed that !hoever makesthe rst contact !ith the shooter is responsible for neutrali&ing him or her !ithout !aiting for a backup# t was "urther noted that, $y theschool o8cials e'amining o" the time period $etween the #rst contactwith the armed intruder and the arrival o" help, they suggest that the police should be considered second responders " we are then tooperate on this practical "ramewor%, which is naturally de$ata$le, our

roles as private protection custodians are to $e challenged,considering the repercussions and immense responsi$ility that $e"allour shoulders "or such a scenario /gain, are we ready "or this;

There are a "ew recent approaches, such as the single+o8cer responsemodel, $eing provided $y e'perts in countering similar situations, $ut am ending my discussion here with the hope that the a$ove havesomehow stirred the group towards $etter appreciation o" thesigni#cance o" this timely issue Aurther, am also attaching herewith<=9*s comprehensive study on the su$>ect and 5 omeland5ecurity*s suggested, al$eit generic, response plan on such scenarios

"or additional reading and re"erence &e could and should learn "rom itamong all other resources, and hope"ully "or everyone, not throughactual e'perience

the active shooter crisis- commentary and resources

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