Active Shooter Response Research Articles

Student safety and casualty mitigation during an active school shooter simulation: an exploratory study

PurposeReducing fatalities and increasing the number of students able to remain safe during an active shooter event is paramount to the health and well-being of schools and communities. Yet, methodological limitations and ethical concerns have restricted prior research on security measures during school shooter lockdown drills. This study aims to fill that gap by using virtual reality (VR) to statistically examine the effectiveness of active shooter response protocols in a simulated high school.Design/methodology/approachUsing a full factorial, within-subjects experimental design, this exploratory investigation used VR technology to investigate whether automatic classroom door locks, centralized lockdown notifications and the presence of a school resource officer (SRO) significantly impacted student safety and casualty mitigation. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 37 individuals who volunteered to participate in 24 school shooter scenarios within a simulated virtual environment.FindingsMultiple one-way analysis of variances indicated significant main effects for automatic classroom door locks and SRO presence. Automatic locks yielded faster lockdown response times, and both factors were significantly associated with higher numbers of secured classrooms.Originality/valueFindings from the current study address the gap in existing literature regarding evidence-based school safety protocols and provide recommendations for using VR simulations to increase preparedness and reduce fatalities during an active school shooter event.

Defining Fire as a Weapon (FaaW): Clarity, Implications, and Opportunity for the Homeland Security Enterprise

Abstract Fire as a weapon (FaaW) is discussed within the first responder community but still vaguely defined. This ambiguity, coupled with absent reporting mechanisms, leads to an inability to estimate the size of the problem correctly. This research offers a comprehensive definition of FaaW and argues for its inclusion as a high-threat response. It evaluates fire as a weapon as a homeland security issue requiring additional attention and leadership by offering new data and analysis that demonstrates the severity of the problem, especially compared to other high-threat events such as active shooter incidents. It clarifies which incident types should receive the most focus and argues for strategic shifts in how we currently perceive this threat. It also elucidates the potential to apply established national standards and tactics for active shooter response to fire as a weapon mitigation strategy.

Multimodal Active Shooter Training for Emergency Department Personnel: An Initiative for Knowledge, Comfort, and Retention.

While hospital-related shootings are not common, recent years have demonstrated an increasing trend, especially involving the emergency department (ED). Despite this increase, there remains a lack of effective training for providers for active shooter events. Existing trainings commonly lack active participation, departmental-specific plans, or feasibility. Sixty-six emergency medicine physicians, nurses, and technicians participated in a two-phased multimodal active shooter training aimed to increase response knowledge and comfort. The initial training phase included a lecture on "Run-Hide-Fight" principles with departmental adaptations, followed by scenario-based discussion, and then safety walkthrough. Months later in the second phase, participants completed an active shooter simulation. An identical knowledge survey was collected before and after each phase along with descriptive analysis. Surveys were compared using paired t-test. Comfort levels were reported on a Likert scale and compared by paired t-test. Paired t-tests confirmed a statistically significant difference in both active shooter knowledge and comfort levels. Participants showed retention of response knowledge and comfort with implementing response behaviors. Further descriptive analysis demonstrated effective fleeing and barricading, suggesting a real-life gain of knowledge and comfort. A two-phased, multimodal training design for active shooter response was successful in increasing ED provider active shooter knowledge, comfort, retention, and effective response behaviors.

Active Shooter response training environment for a building evacuation in a collaborative virtual environment

During active shooter events or emergencies, the ability of security personnel to respond appropriately to the situation is driven by pre-existing knowledge and skills, but also depends upon their state of mind and familiarity with similar scenarios. Human behavior becomes unpredictable when it comes to making a decision in emergency situations. The cost and risk of determining these human behavior characteristics in emergency situations is very high. This paper presents an immersive collaborative virtual reality (VR) environment for performing virtual building evacuation drills and active shooter training scenarios using Oculus Rift headmounted displays. The collaborative immersive environment is implemented in Unity 3D and is based on run, hide, and fight mode for emergency response. The immersive collaborative VR environment also offers a unique method for training in emergencies for campus safety. The participant can enter the collaborative VR environment setup on the cloud and participate in the active shooter response training environment, which leads to considerable cost advantages over large-scale real-life exercises. A presence questionnaire in the user study was used to evaluate the effectiveness of our immersive training module. The results show that a majority of users agreed that their sense of presence was increased when using the immersive emergency response training module for a building evacuation environment.

The Evolution of Active Shooter Response Training Protocols Since Columbine: Lessons From the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center

On April 20, 1999, two active shooters attacked Columbine High School. This attack became a catalyst that changed the manner in which law enforcement prepared for similar attacks at schools and other locations. Departments across the United States developed and adopted active shooter response training protocols. To assist law enforcement with this work, training centers were created including the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center. ALERRT was formed in 2002 and was named the national standard in active shooter training by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2013. To date, ALERRT has trained more than 130,000 first responders from over 9,000 agencies in active shooter response. This commentary leverages our extensive expertise as directors of ALERRT. Specifically, we discuss how training protocols have evolved over the last two decades to include active shooter response teams, solo officer response, medical intervention training, integrated response training, and civilian response.

The role of unarmed security in active killer defence

Active shooter-type attacks are low-probability/ high-consequence incidents that must be a part of every organisation’s all-hazards emergency preparedness programme. All too often, law enforcement is viewed as the only viable response, and while law enforcement’s role is imperative, on-site security can do a great deal to prevent and mitigate this ever-growing threat. This paper argues that security officers should be trained and empowered with tools to help them identify Pre-Attack INdicators (PAINs) and those elements of first timer’s syndrome that are exhibited prior to an attack. An understanding of PAINs combined with courteous, proactive and engaging interactions, will improve overall security value and provide early recognition and faster response in the unlikely event of an active-shooter type attack. Current active shooter response best practices embrace the runhide- fight survival options. The run and hide options are lower risk, and typically far more effective. Early recognition, and a thorough understanding of their environment, empowers security officers to provide clear and immediate run or hide instructions to others before the emergency occurs.

An In Situ Simulation-Based Training Approach to Active Shooter Response in the Emergency Department

ABSTRACTWith an increased number of active shooter events in the United States, emergency departments are challenged to ensure preparedness for these low frequency but high stakes events. Engagement of all emergency department personnel can be very challenging due to a variety of barriers. This article describes the use of an in situ simulation training model as a component of active shooter education in one emergency department. The educational tool was intentionally developed to be multidisciplinary in planning and involvement, to avoid interference with patient care and to be completed in the true footprint of the work space of the participants. Feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive both in terms of added value and avoidance of creating secondary emotional or psychological stress. The specific barriers and methods to overcome implementation are outlined. Although the approach was used in only one department, the approach and lessons learned can be applied to other emergency departments in their planning and preparation. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:345-352).

The effect of an active shooter response intervention on hospital employees' response knowledge, perceived program usefulness, and perceived organizational preparedness.

Active shooter events occur frequently across the United States in a variety of locations, including health care facilities. Hospital health care worker response to an active shooter event may mean the difference in life or death for self or others. There is little research on how hospitals prepare nonmanagers to respond to active shooter events. We conducted a study to explore differences in knowledge, perceived organizational preparedness, and program utility following participation in an active shooter response program. Self-efficacy, personal characteristics, and professional characteristics were also explored. Program evaluation was conducted via a one-group pretest/posttest design. There was a significant increase in knowledge and perceived organizational preparedness postintervention. Trait-level self-efficacy did not have a significant effect on retained knowledge and perceived organizational preparedness. The current study is the first known to evaluate the efficacy of an active shooter response program for nonmanagers within an inpatient health care facility. Findings from this study may inform risk managers on how to educate employees on what to expect and how to react should an active shooter event occur.

Preparing for and Minimizing Risks of an Active Shooter

Preparing for and Minimizing Risks of an Active Shooter

Training for the Unthinkable: Examining Message Characteristics on Motivations to Engage in an Active-Shooter Response Video

Campus safety is becoming an increasing concern for academic institutions due to numerous recent tragedies. To prepare students, staff, and faculty for these events, schools are beginning to use active shooter response training videos such as Run, Hide, Fight—a 5-minute video created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Framed in protection motivation theory, this study employs a 3 x 2 factorial design to test the influence of message medium (email, text, or tweet) and frame (direct or fear-based message) on students' completion of the safety training video. The findings suggest that the combination of message frame and message medium influence training completion. Additionally, the video itself led to a significant increase in participants’ self-efficacy, safety knowledge, and campus safety salience.

Emergency medical services response to active shooter incidents: provider comfort level and attitudes before and after participation in a focused response training program.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) routinely stage in a secure area in response to active shooter incidents until the scene is declared safe by law enforcement. Due to the time-sensitive nature of injuries at these incidents, some EMS systems have adopted response tactics utilizing law enforcement protection to expedite life-saving medical care. Describe EMS provider perceptions of preparedness, adequacy of training, and general attitudes toward active shooter incident response after completing a tactical awareness training program. An unmatched, anonymous, closed-format survey utilizing a five-point Likert scale was distributed to participating EMS providers before and after a focused training session on joint EMS/police active shooter rescue team response. Descriptive statistics were used to compare survey results. Secondary analysis of responses based on prior military or tactical medicine training was performed using a chi-squared analysis. Two hundred fifty-six providers participated with 88% (225/256) pretraining and 88% (224/256) post-training surveys completed. Post-training, provider agreement that they felt adequately prepared to respond to an active shooter incident changed from 41% (92/225) to 89% (199/224), while agreement they felt adequately trained to provide medical care during an active shooter incident changed from 36% (82/225) to 87% (194/224). Post-training provider agreement that they should never enter a building with an active shooter changed from 73% (165/225) to 61% (137/224). Among the pretraining surveys, significantly more providers without prior military or tactical experience agreed they should never enter a building with an active shooter until the scene was declared safe (78% vs 50%, P = .002), while significantly more providers with prior experience felt both adequately trained to provide medical care in an active shooter environment (56% vs 31%, P = .007) and comfortable working jointly with law enforcement within a building if a shooter were still inside (76% vs 56%, P = .014). There was no difference in response to these questions in the post-training survey. Attitudes and perceptions regarding EMS active shooter incident response appear to change among providers after participation in a focused active shooter response training program. Further studies are needed to determine if these changes are significant and whether early EMS response during an active shooter incident improves patient outcomes.

The Hartford Consensus: THREAT, A Medical Disaster Preparedness Concept

Mass murder through active shooter and explosive events has been at the forefront of our news. Despite improvements in both law enforcement tactics and emergency trauma care, additional integration of the core functions of the public safety response to these events has the potential to maximize survivability. From the mass casualty shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, through the shootings at SandyHook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, an examination of events will demonstrate some improvement. However, we must continue to hone our response. Perhaps no incident has changed both law enforcement and fire/rescue/emergencymedical services (EMS) response like the Columbine High School shooting. At that time, traditional law enforcement response doctrine dictated waiting for tactical personnel to arrive to secure the school. During this waiting time, some of the fatalities and some of the morbidity among survivors were due to unchecked hemorrhage and shock. Nearly 8 years later, a clear transition in active shooter response was evident on the campus of Virginia Tech University, where the initial response included 2 tactical medics who provided care, predominantly hemorrhage control and airway management, long before the scene was secured. The mass casualty shooting incident at Foot Hood military base resulted in 13 dead and 31 wounded. An officer was able to stop the shooter, but sustained bilateral thigh wounds with significant hemorrhage from the left lower extremity. An Army medic