How to respond in an Active Shooter event.
Offering active shooter training to the community has been a priority for Crime Stoppers for many years. We are proud to have partnered with organizations over the years such as Houston Police Department to offer this valuable education to all.
“Active Shooters, yet another threat to our families and ourselves.”
Twenty twenty has been a year of unforeseen challenges. Covid-19, social unrest, hurricanes, pending political changes, and Active Shootings. It is reasonable to imagine many troubled individuals that have been isolated, lost their jobs, and suffered illness deciding to act out their stress via active shooting.
Thankfully, we have not experienced a significant cry of “defund the police” in Houston, Texas. However, the Houston Police Department has been understaffed for many years. The reality of active shooting is that 60% of active shooting events are over before law enforcement can arrive. Sandy Hook Elementary suffered 26 deaths in 4 minutes.
Should you or your family find yourself in an Active Shooting event, it is critical that you have a survival mindset. This mindset must be established prior to the event. You will not be creative and develop a sound tactical plan in the crisis.
Attending one of the Houston Police Department’s Active Shooter Defense training sessions will provide you with the basic tools by which you can construct your own personal defense of an active shooter. Run, Hide, Fight is the mantra for active shooting defense. This is acquired by understanding the elements of defense and then visualizing them as they apply to the various venues, which you frequent in your normal life.
The training focuses on four areas of life. Public school, college and university, work place and houses of worship. Each is a unique environment, which we are likely to frequent at some point in our lives.
At the first indication of an active shooting event or what you think might be an active shooting event, your first option is to escape (Run), if that is not an option you should hide, as an absolute last resort, you should fight. Understanding the details of Run, Hide, Fight by attending the HPD training, then committing yourself to the visualization exercises, will give you a significant advantage if you become the victim of an active shooter.
A wise idea is to have all of your family (age appropriate) participate in this training. After the training have, a family meeting to discuss how each member should respond if they are in public with the family.
Be an advocate for Active Shooter Defense training. Suggest this training for your children’s’ school, your work, your house of worship.
Be reassured that this training is about using your brain intelligently, not about carrying a firearm. In addition, you learn how to interact with responding officers.
The training provide by the Houston Police Department is free in the city limits of Houston. It is available to all groups. It is real world practical training that will significantly improve your odds of survival. To date four individuals have acknowledged their survival from an active shooter thanks to this training.
For more information, please watch the Houston Police Department’s video on Active Shooter Defense.
This blog post was provided by Stephen Daniel, Senior Community Liaison, Houston Police Department.
Posted by on 8 Sep 2020