WESTFIELD – In the event of an active shooter incident, three words could safe your life: RUN! HIDE! FIGHT!
In the wake of recent shootings on college campuses, Westfield State University is attempting to be proactive by offering Active Shooter/Imminent Threat training sessions for students, faculty and staff.
Active Shooter/Imminent Threat Training teaches members of the WSU community how they can work with law enforcement to better prevent, prepare, and respond to an active shooter incident.
WSU Police Lt. Bernie St. George of WSU’s department of public safety created and leads the sessions on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, they are not always well attended. Thursday night’s session had four people in attendance.
One student, Erika, said the workshop needs to be better advertised since notification of the last two trainings were sent via email, but the message was received the day before the session was to be held.
As far as making the training mandatory, public affairs spokeswoman Molly Watson said in an email: “The issue is that the training has not become mandatory . . . yet. Even though there are not federal or state laws that mandate active shooter training, it makes sense. It is for the benefit and safety of the entire campus.”
College campuses around the country are considering making such trainings mandatory, Watson said.
When WSU presidential candidate Ramon Torrecilha was asked during his interview what he would do during his first 90 days: “He said one item would be to review and assess current emergency processes and systems,” said Watson.
“Active shooter response is a hot training topic nationally, as just about every public and private educational institution and many organizations (public, private, for-profit and non-profit), are developing active shooter guidance, policy, videos and related training,” according to an online article found at campussafetymagazine.com.
Watson said that she is further researching the concept of mandatory training.
St. George, who has been at WSU for four years, said, “locking the door, hiding in a corner and hoping no one kills you isn’t always the best or only solution.”
He started the presentation by defining “imminent danger” as “an immediate threat of harm,” which includes “the attacker’s intent to cause great bodily injury or death,” the attacker having a device and the attacker having the opportunity and ability to use such device.
An “active shooter,” St. George said, according to the FBI, is “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.”
The profile of an active shooter includes: 97 percent acting alone; 96 percent male; 87 percent of incidents involved 0-3 fatalities; 80 percent current or former students; 55 percent used one weapon and 43 percent made routine entry with a weapon concealed.
“Active shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve quickly,” said St. George. “and are often over within 10-15 minutes, before law enforcement arrives on the scene.”
This is why it is so important to prepare non-emergency personnel how to respond to an active shooter scenario.
RUN:
If safe to do so, the first priority should be to escape from danger. When it is safe, individuals should contact campus police first before calling 911.
St. George said that 911 calls first will go to state police dispatch, then will likely be transferred to Westfield Police Department dispatch before getting to university police. This wastes valuable time.
The many call boxes on campus, with the blue lights, can be used and go directly to campus dispatch.
One of the emergency call boxes, which connects a user directly to campus dispatch, located on the campus of Westfield State University (photo by Christine Charnosky)
When running, if in the open, run in zigzags to make yourself less of a target.
St. George also advised not to go to pre-determined meeting places (that would be used during other emergencies) and avoid parking lots since the attacker may target these locations.
HIDE:
If there is no opportunity to run, then hide by locking and/or barricading doors, turning off lights, silencing cell phones and remaining quiet.
FIGHT:
Fighting should be a last resort, but sometimes it becomes necessary. Improvise weapons: liquids from coffee cups/water bottles can be thrown into an attacker’s face to momentarily distract or startle him/her; flashlights can be used to shine into the attacker’s eyes to disorient him/her; furniture can be used as weapons.
“You don’t need to kill the attacker,” he said. “You just need to disarm him or her.”
St. George shared some powerful videos showing simulations done by students demonstrating how to take out an attacker in various ways.
When police respond, St. George said let them do their job. Their first priority is to stop the threat, which means they will not be immediately attending to the injured.
Police need people to follow commands, keep hands empty and visible, move slowly unless instructed otherwise, give a description of the shooter(s) and weapon(s) and afterwards give a clear account of the incident.
STAT (Student Threat Assessment Team) meetings are held on a weekly basis, said St. George.
Anyone who sees changes in a student- they are becoming less friendly, there is a decrease in hygiene, they seem distraught – can report the student to the team for them to make a determination about the individual’s possible level of threat.
Even though the audience was small, there was a lively discussion with St. George following his formal presentation.
Sophomore Derek Dulac said he wanted to attend because of all the recent shootings. He was impressed by the simple ways to distract an attacker, such as using coffee or flashlights.
This week St. George will be presenting the training to the entire student government. Next month, the training will be given to resident assistants.
Other sessions will also be made available this semester to the general population of students, faculty and staff.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
