Active shooter

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An active shooter is defined as "... an armed person who has used deadly physical force on other persons and continues to do so while having unrestricted access to additional victims."^[1]

The definition includes so-called "snipers", but not usually suicide bombers. Active shooters have caused a paradigm shift in law enforcement training and tactics, especially as these persons do not necessarily expect to escape or even survive these situations.^[2]

1 Changes in Police Response
2 Brief History of Active Shooter Incidents
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Changes in Police Response

When an active shooter begins his attack, it is imperative that the initial police responders immediately pursue and establish contact with the shooter at the earliest opportunity.^[1] The sooner the shooter can be contained, captured or neutralized, the fewer the casualties incurred. During the pursuit, police officers will move through unsecured areas, and bypass dead, wounded and panicked citizens while approaching the perpetrator(s).^[2] It is important for law enforcement personnel to survive the encounter to end a massacre, rather than become additional victims.

Modern "Immediate Action Rapid Deployment" (IARD) police tactics and protective equipment have been developed that enable first responder patrol officers to rapidly approach armed individuals. Ballistic shield technology has progressed, and officers can deploy lightweight versions of these shields from their patrol vehicles. The "Baker Batshield" was introduced in 2003, and gives trained officers the ability to move swiftly while simultaneously aiming and operating a pistol, submachine gun, or assault rifle. The ability of police officers to apply accurate firepower is important during an active shooter emergency, as rescuing officers are reluctant to use weapons in crowded areas for fear of adding to the casualty count, and have a difficult time getting closer to an active shooter without ballistic protection.

Retired FBI trainer John Wills states, "The street officer faces just as much danger as do SWAT teams. Moreover, the street cop usually never has any time to "gear up" for the encounter. With portable, folding shields, one only needs to pull it out of its case and go".^[3]

By the time a shooter decides to go active, there is little time available to save the lives of innocents positioned in the immediate "killing zone", as referenced by author Rick Armellino:

"The October 2nd, 2006 Amish schoolhouse massacre in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, is a textbook example showing how quickly and efficiently killing can commence in the presence of a closely established police containment perimeter."^[4]

The need for "Immediate Action Rapid Deployment" (IARD) by police first responders is described in an article published by the Christian Science Monitor dated May 31, 2000:

"Instead of being taught to wait for the SWAT team to arrive, street officers are receiving the training and weaponry to take immediate action during incidents that clearly involve suspects' use of deadly force."^[5]

The article further reported that street officers were increasingly being armed with rifles, and issued heavy body armor and ballistic helmets, items traditionally associated with SWAT units. The idea is to train and equip street officers to rapidly respond to these situations, instead of simply setting up a perimeter to prevent the escape of the suspects while awaiting the arrival of SWAT units.

As an example, in the policy & procedure manual of the Minneapolis Police Department it is stated:

"MPD personnel shall remain cognizant of the fact that in many active shooter incidents, innocent lives are lost within the first few minutes of the incident. In some situations, this dictates the need to rapidly assess the situation and act quickly in order to save lives."^[6]

The Christian Science Monitor noted this approach is not without controversy. Apparently, many agencies have not implemented this training due to the cost of training and equipping individual officers with new weapons and protective equipment. In a nation that annually spends millions of dollars protecting school-age students from fires in schools, very little is spent training and equipping police officers for Immediate Action Rapid Deployment for their protection. There has not been a single death in an American school due to fire in over 25 years. In comparison, during the calendar years 1999 to 2005, over 200 children have been murdered in American schools. (These fire/shooting statistical comparisons were originally generated by Dave Grossman, authority on school shootings and author of On Killing.)