Emergency Preparedness: Do you Know What to do in an ‘Active Shooter’ Emergency?
October 2017
Both the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have videos and other instructional information posted on their websites regarding the steps to take in the event of an active shooter.
The Department of Homeland Security has on its website an “Active Shooter Pocket Card” outlining the emergency preparations that need to be in place in the event of “an active shooter” incident based on a model/video entitled “Run, Hide, Fight” produced by the City of Houston in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.
The “Active Shooter Pocket Card” can be found at:
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/active_shooter_pocket_card_508.pdf
- The pocket card outlines the following steps to take:
- Run
- Have an escape route and plan in mind
- Leave your belongings behind
- Keep your hands visible
- Hide
- Hide in an area out of the shooter’s view
- Block entry to your hiding place and lock the doors
- Silence your cell phone and/or pager
- Fight
- As a last resort and only when your life is in imminent danger
- Attempt to incapacitate the shooter
- Act with physical aggression and throw items at the active shooter
According to the Columbus, Ohio Homeland Security Office, a recent “active-shooter” drill at the Columbus Water Works’ Veterans Parkway Office was extremely successful after providing everyone at the facility with an hour-long classroom training session. According to the Columbus Homeland Security Director Robert Futrell, the floor was cleared in 5 seconds once the sheriff’s deputy portraying the shooter walked through the door and fired one blank blast from his shotgun. The employees acted instantly – fleeing or sheltering in designated secure zones the shooter couldn’t get to.
A local newspaper quoted Futrell as saying: “We walked through the entire building, and couldn’t find one person to shoot,” said Futrell, also a deputy fire chief, who has headed homeland security here since 2014. He made the mistake of getting between a receptionist and her safe zone when the shotgun fired. “I thought she was going to take me out,” he said of her shoving past him.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/article177677006.html
The six minute instructional video entitled “Run, Hide, Fight” be found on youtube at:
