By Editor|2019-03-26T15:37:36+00:00August 2nd, 2017|Comments Off on An Active Response

An Active Response

ALICE (alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate) — a method developed by a police chief for school protocols — has been increasingly replacing duck and cover protocols in schools as incidents increase. One school in Vermilion, Ohio is opening up this training to the community, according to The Chronicle. The training sessions will be run by Vermilion patrolman Brian Beckwith, the city’s school resource officer. “Instead of training out humans’ natural instinct to survive, we’ve got to be reinforcing those,” Beckwith told The Chronicle. “Think about it from a predator’s perspective. If an older squirrel taught a younger squirrel to curl under a desk and hold his arms in and just wait — that makes no sense in terms of survival. But this is what we train people to do.”

The training teaches people to be alert, secure yourself, notify 911, fight back to slow the assailant (a controversial measure, according to The Chronicle), and evacuate.

“The average assailant will not spend more than seven to 10 seconds messing with a locked door. He’ll move on,” said Beckwith.

With countering, “the goal is not making children responsible for taking down an armed assailant, but rather making his aim less sure,” according to The Chronicle.

“Researchers realized the targets weren’t moving around. They weren’t fleeing, or throwing things, or running around. This lesson was learned after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, when 10 people were killed while trying to take shelter under desks in the library.”

Sources:

http://www.chroniclet.com/Local-News/2017/07/30/Free-active-shooter-training-offered-for-free-in-Vermilion.html

To read about another school protocol developed in conjunction with emergency management professionals in the Lake Oswego School District, visit:

http://www.pamplinmedia.com/lor/48-news/367422-249275-losd-creates-detailed-plan-to-keep-kids-safe

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About the Author: Editor