Through a lifetime of drills and training we
prepare ourselves for the very worst. School kids take part in fire drills.
Employees do the same in their workplaces. Air travelers are besieged with
emergency landing messages at the start of every flight. Concerned citizens get
certified in first aid and CPR.
The chance of having to utilize anything learned in
those exercises is rather slim. But, it’s good to have those tools in your
arsenal because things happen: Kids have to escape their school during a gas
leak; service workers have to vacate their restaurants during a fire; passengers
have to get out of a plane during a water landing; and a Good Samaritan might
find himself resuscitating a total stranger.
The same outlook applied to those preparations (“it’s
nice to have, but hopefully you never have to use it”) should also be practiced
when it comes to active shooter incidents. Mass shootings are rare, but, still,
they seem to be the domestic terrorist flavor of the day. And, they can happen
anywhere, even in places that are supposed to offer respite from the evils of
the world -- concerts, churches, and schools.
No place is safe. But, they might be a little safer
if people are prepared. Opportunities to make you and them so are out there,
and available to the general public.
Last week, I took part in an active shooter seminar
that was put on by Captain Aaron Schultz of the Niagara County Sheriff’s
Office. Eloquent, entertaining, and educational, he offered a lot of food for
thought that I could use to prepare any of the organizations for which I work
or volunteer. I found it to be a very worthwhile evening.
The NCSO is among a number of upstate law
enforcement agencies that offer such classes at request. They don’t necessarily
schedule public seminars because you don’t want every weirdo in town to know
what places are prepared and how. Instead, they encourage businesses and
non-profits to reach out to them to administer training that is more specific
to the environment involved, be it a school, factory, hospital, restaurant, or
church. The ball is in your court to book the training and I encourage you to
do so.
Don’t be put-off by an assumptions you might have. At
first blush, the average person might think that active shooter training would
make you a shooter, too, someone trained to kill the perpetrator. That’s not
the route such classes take. Captain Schultz spent very little time on that
because it’s the policeman’s job to be the armed defender. Your average citizen
isn’t ready to do that and doesn’t and can’t devote the hours and willingness of
sacrifice to accept fire and then return fire quickly and accurately to take
someone’s life without harming innocent bystanders in the process.
Instead, he focused on a few critical areas that are
more realistic, reasonable and useful for the masses.
First, he addressed the various aspects of
run-hide-fight. As the system implies, you would hightail it in the event of a
crisis; if you can’t, you barricade yourself; and if that doesn’t work, you
beat the dickens out of the assailant (since most people don’t carry concealed
firearms). The detailed thoughts he offered about every one of those things gives
the uninitiated a solid survivalist understanding.
The Captain then talked about situational awareness.
This is critical because it allows individuals to prevent things from
escalating to gun violence because he gives you the tools to recognize the cues
of an unstable person, or someone in need of help, and how that should be
addressed.
His seminar concluded with a discussion about how
to make your property and people ready for worst-case scenarios. Once you’re
eyes are opened, you’ll find there are a lot of policies and minor changes to
your facilities that can be done, and cheaply at that, to make everyone safer.
I would imagine that most sheriff’s departments
follow and offer a similar class. Even much smaller departments shouldn’t be
overlooked as a resource -- as an example, the Cuba Police Department in
Allegany County has something they call CRASE (Civilian Response to Active
Shooter Events).
If you run a business or sit on a board or church
council, take advantage of this free public service. We live in some strange
times, so we have to be ready for some truly horrific happenings. A mass
shooting will likely never occur in your presence, but if it does, or if it
looks like it might, you want to do what you can to save your life and those of
friends and family.
From the 30
April 2018 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News
No comments:
Post a Comment