ALICE                 January 17, 2014

Active Shooter Emergency

An active shooter emergency involves one or more persons, using a firearm, engaging in a random or systematic shooting spree. The vast majority of shootings in this country are over in a matter of minutes, involve persons known to one another, and are confined to a particular area. An Active Shooting incident does not follow this template. It may last for minutes or hours, range over a large and constantly changing area, and threaten everyone within close proximity of the shooter(s).

Persons may or may not receive advance warning of an active shooter. A witness, personal observation or the sound of gunshots may be the only alert you receive, leaving little time to react. The sound of gunshots, unlike special effects in movies and television, may sound muffled and make a “pop, pop, pop” noise. It is reasonable to assume that a series of such noises are gunshots and you should begin to take necessary precautions.

Traditional response to this type of incident has been to shelter in place and wait for the police to arrive. While this type of response is not completely wrong, case studies of several active shooter incidents have shown that using only this response has resulted in an increase in casualties. The university has adopted the "ALICE" response plan to assist you in your response should this type of incident occur.

ALICE

“ALICE” is an acronym for 5 steps you can utilize in order to increase your chances of surviving a surprise attack by an Active Shooter. It is important to remember that the “ALICE” response does not follow a set of actions you “shall, must, will” do when confronted with an Active Shooter. Your survival is paramount in this situation. Deal with known information and don’t worry about unknowns. You may use only l or 2 parts of the response plan or you may have to utilize all 5. In this type of incident, your perception is the reality and you will be deciding what the appropriate action for you to take is.
1. Alert - Can be anything.
   • Gunfire
   • Witness
   • PA Announcement
   • Phone alert
2. Lockdown - This is a semi-secure starting point from which to make survival decisions. If you decide to not evacuate, secure the room.
   • Lock the door.
   • Cover any windows in the door if possible.
   • Tie down the door, if possible, using belts, purse straps, shoe laces, etc.
   • Barricade the door with anything available (desks, chairs, etc.) .
   • Look for alternate escape routes (windows, other doors).
   • Call 91l.
   • Move out of the doorway in case gunfire comes through it.
   • Silence or place cell phones on vibrate.
   • Once secured, do not open the door for anyone. Police will enter the room when the situation is over
   • Gather weapons (coffee cups, chairs, books, pens, etc.) and mentally prepare to defend yourself or others.
   • Put yourself in position to surprise the active shooter should they enter the room.
3. Inform - Using any means necessary to pass on real time information.
   • Given in plain language.
   • Can be derived from 911 calls, video surveillance, etc.
   • Who, what, where, when and how information.
   • Can be used by people in the area or who may come into it to make common sense decisions.
   • Can be given by “Flash Alerts”, PA Announcements or Police Radio speakers.
   Active Shooter Recommendations page 1
4. Counter - This is the use of simple, proactive techniques should you be confronted by the Active Shooter.
   • Anything can be a weapon.
   • Throw things at the shooter's head to disrupt their aim.
   • Create as much noise as possible.
   • Attack in a group (swarm).
   • Grab the shooter's limbs and head and take him to the ground and hold them there.
   • Fight dirty-bite, kick, scratch, gouge eyes, etc.
   • Run around the room and create chaos.
   • If you have control of the shooter call 911 and tell the police where you are and listen to their commands when officers arrive on scene.
5. Evacuate - Remove yourself from the danger zone as quickly as possible.
   • Decide if you can safely evacuate.
   • Run in a zigzag pattern as fast as you can.
   • Do not stop running until you are far away from the area.
   • Bring something to throw with you in case you would encounter the Active Shooter.
   • Consider if the fall from a window will kill you.
   • Break out windows and attempt to quickly clear glass from the frame.
   • Consider using belts, clothing or other items as an improvised rope to shorten the distance you would fall.
   • Hang by your hands from the window ledge to shorten your drop.
   • Attempt to drop into shrubs, mulch or grass to lessen the chance of injury.
   • Do not attempt to drive from the area.

Secondary Issues

• Responding Police will have their weapons drawn and ready for use. They do not know exactly who the shooter is and will probably point weapons at you. Just remain calm and follow any directions they may give you. You may be asked questions, patted down, and given orders to exit certain ways.
• Responding Police are there to stop the Active Shooter as soon as possible. They will bypass injured people and will not help you escape. Only after the shooter is stopped will they begin to provide other assistance.
• If you come into possession of a weapon, do NOT, carry or brandish it! Police may think you are the Active Shooter. If possible, put it in a trashcan and carry it with you. If you come across Police, calmly tell them what you are carrying and why. Follow their commands.
• Be prepared to provide first aid. Think outside the box. Tampons and feminine napkins can be used to stop blood loss. Shoe laces and belts can be used to secure tourniquets. Weighted shoes can be tied around a person’s head to immobilize it. Remember it may be several hours until can safely move an injured person. The actions you take immediately to treat them may save their life.
• If you are in lockdown for a long period of time, give consideration to issues such as bathroom use, keeping people calm, etc.
• Discuss before hand with people in your office or classes where you will meet up should you have to evacuate and make it a place easily accessible and far away from the scene.
• Talk to your students and co-workers beforehand to know if they have any special skills. Consider strategic placement of these people in a classroom or office setting. You may have current or ex-military personnel, medically trained persons, or even people trained in martial arts that can provide assistance in this type of incident.
• Consider setting up classrooms and offices to make it harder for an Active Shooter to enter and acquire targets.
Active Shooter Recommendations page 2 - end

Web Master's Comments : This program is basically good, but there are some items that must be clarified.

1 . Balance of Awareness with Paranoia. To tell every person to call 911 every time they hear a loud noise because it may be a gunshot is wrong. Telling leaders to bar the doors is wrong. Telling people to go to a heightened state of awareness is correct. And to be prepared to take emergency actions is correct.
  a . Calls will overwhelm limited 911 services.
  b . Crying wolf decreases security. For example, police do not give priority to home alarms because of so many false alarms. We used to organize pencil drops when the clock clicked twenty minutes after the hour. Certainly book drops landing flat in the hallway would sound like a machine gun.)
  c . Overuse of emergency introduces paranoia in clients, be they students, customers or staff members.
  d . Barriers at doors endanger occupants in case of fire or panic. At some point, terrorists will recognize that a fire bomb does more damage than shooting.
2. Telling people to observe, follow, and report current locations of perps is downright irresponsible.
3. Gun bans remove a civil reaction. I used to be annoyed that I would have to walk to my car to get a gun, then my employer and the college banned guns on their property, so I removed the gun, feeling that anyone to make so dumb a rule did not deserve protection. Also that excited cops will shoot any armed civilian.
4. Assault drills are likely to encourage such events, just like evacuation drills encourage prank calls to get out of taking a test.
5. Lockdown, securing the premise impedes normal flow of business and induces a feeling of controlling the population to create as state of serfs, rather than confident, resourcefulness.
6. Kid are kids. Interrogating anyone who mentions a gun or violence will create a lifelong hatred of authority, not just that abusive authority. Zero tolerance is in the same vain. Expelling a kid that points a cocked finger and saying bang is not conducive to respect for law.

---

URL : http://www.manorweb.com/creative/2014/alice.html