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An active shooter is a person who actively participates in mass murder or in an attempt to kill people at close range in a single planned act. In most cases, active shooters use firearms but do not have a specific criterion for choosing victims. The behavior of active shooters is unpredictable and tragic events develop very quickly. Generally, they rarely participate in negotiations.
As a rule, the localization of the active shooter occurs due to the actions of law enforcement officers. However, even aggressive counteraction to the active shooter by civilians (including unarmed ones) demoralizes them. Since active shooter situations are a long-term phenomenon, people must be mentally and physically prepared for an active shooter situation before law enforcement arrives on the scene (Heisler, 2018). The first law enforcement officers to arrive on the scene will not stop to help the victims. Rescue teams of police officers and emergency medical personnel are expected to follow the first special forces team. These rescue teams will provide first aid and evacuate all casualties. They may require uninjured people to help evacuate the injured from the premises.
The top priority is to ensure that any risks of harm are eliminated. After arrival, law enforcement focuses on immediate activities. Nevertheless, the EMS national standard states that emergency medical services staff can not enter the unsecured area. That makes sense but preventing more harm or loss of lives is the immediate task. So, police officers should be trained in triage and direct saving of lives to aid any injured person until EMS arrives. The matter is that potential witnesses must be quickly identified and secured to prevent delays in urgent need in medical care or deterioration of the patient’s health. There is an opinion that police officers should certainly be trained in applying some lifesaving facilities. Every police officer should have tourniquets and air-tight packing in his kit because this can help save one’s life.
Solo entries of the police officers are usually done when the scene is still active and hot. Nevertheless, there are some discussions that it is not dangerous because the attacker has already killed himself. The strong argument against is that about 75% of the time, the police officer is in a hot scene (2014). It means that the solo policeman is mostly alone against the attacker. About one-third of solo entries ended with shooting the police officers by the attackers. So, the police officers should be properly informed about the expected risks of solo entry. Despite mitigating the injuries and losses of lives, solo entry is a significant risk the policemen are exposed to. Thus, the police officers should be adequately trained in simulating the active shooter situations in schools, especially in solo entries. It must include physical training and mental conditioning as well because solo entry appears to be quite dangerous.
Active shooter incidents have much in common, so law-enforcing institutions and emergency medical services should develop a precise cooperation mechanism. Training in critical tasks is necessary for the police officers who respond to active shooter incidents. Fast response is quite urgent, but solo entries shall be utilized mainly in the most extreme circumstances of life and death. As far as the police officers are often supposed to provide emergency care, they must be adequately trained and have significant experience in cooperation with EMS.
References
Critical Issues in Policing Series: The police response to active shooters (2014). Police Executive Research Forum, 1-60.
Heisler, A. (2018). Billions have been spent on school safety, but is it working? Risk and Insurance. Web.
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