'Active shooter' situations may be rare but we need to be ready

By Brice Wallace

It wasn’t all that long ago that the term “active shooter” did not exist.

But Salt Lake City Police Capt. Lance VanDongen recently reminded a group in Salt Lake City that it now is commonplace — so much so that business owners and managers need to understand the threat that it and other violent acts represent and how they can try to mitigate their impact when they occur.

Speaking at the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Utah Education Summit — which took place after the Las Vegas shootings but before last week’s shooting in Red Butte Canyon in Salt Lake City — VanDongen said such discussions are “a tough topic that sometimes is a bit of a trouble topic to contemplate,” but discussion and education can help.

{mprestriction ids="1,3"}The list of stakeholders in a terrorism or active shooter situation is lengthy and includes the obvious first responders, but he noted that it also includes private businesses and non-government organizations. He cited statistics from 2000-13 that indicated that 45.6 percent of active shooter events took place in commercial locations, nearly twice as high as educational sites. And of the commercial locations, 27.5 percent were places open to the public.

“We know we cannot predict these. We know we cannot prevent these events,” VanDongen said. “All we can do is work as hard as we can, to be as prepared as we can, to mitigate the damages. And now we’re learning that it doesn’t just fall on the police, fire and emergency medical technicians. It’s a whole community responsibility that I think we have to look at.”

It’s elusive in part because terrorism attacks worldwide have evolved and lately have included bombs and vehicles, he noted.

“They have forced us as emergency responders to evolve our tactics. And, most importantly, what it has done, I think, is it has impressed the importance of all of us as a whole community to have an understanding of this. We don’t all need to be experts. We don’t all need to be completely immersed in this,” he said.

“Are we going to prevent these? No, we will never prevent them. We can’t predict them, so we cannot prevent them. Can we mitigate the damages through our preparation, not only the emergency services but also as a whole community, as business owners, as students, as teachers and as parents? Yes, I think we can.”

For businesses to protect their employees, customers and others onsite, they must have plans and policies in place and to train for such situations, he stressed.

For example, in order to reduce the opportunities for violence, companies can be more vigilant in screening employees; be able to account for all open doors; check in all visitors; control access points; maintain emergency plans, emergency training protocols and security surveillance systems; and perhaps have trained personnel such as police or EMTs onsite.

Companies can also select certain employees to be ready for internal command duties in the event of an incident. Others can maintain employee rosters, account for personnel in the event of trouble, help employees learn about pre-determined assembly areas, and help to designate inner and outer perimeters and control points ahead of time. Maps can be invaluable, he said.

“I guarantee you, if you have that on paper and a police officer shows up and says, ‘Do you have a map?’ and you pull that out with some control points on it, that helps us immensely because seconds count when we’re trying to deny access and not allow people into a very active area,” VanDongen said.

He also suggested the creation of “go bags” that contain specialized gear, equipment and supplies that first responders or employees could use in the event of an emergency.

“If you’re a property owner, if you’re a building owner, if you have these things predesignated, you can put things in these areas to help your employees,” he said. “We put fire extinguishers and we put hoses and we put fire alarms in rooms to help everybody stay safe. Put a bag that has some tourniquets in it — something that can help stop the bleeding in the event of an active shooter situation.”

VanDongen also said companies need to become versant in terms used by first responders. They include “controlled access points;” “medical rally points;” “rescue task force;” “casualty collection points;” “inner and outer perimeters;” and zones designated as “hot,” “warm” or “cold.”

“I know these are all terms that are a little bit odd, but if you’re a business owner or you’re a business manager or property owner and you are thinking, ‘How do I plan for these type of things,’ well, you should know some of our terminology because that helps us,” he said.

VanDongen noted that terrorist attacks are “on a rising track,” as are the number of casualties they cause. “We’re getting better at saving people’s lives. Our healthcare providers are getting better at saving lives. The police, the fire departments the emergency medical technicians, we’re getting better at it. The problem is, these people that are willing to perpetrate this type of violence, they’re getting better at killing people,” he told the crowd.

“You are all stakeholders in this idea of keeping ourselves safe from terror attacks and active shooter events. … If you’re a business owner, if you’re a property owner, if you manage a company, if you manage employees, it’s incumbent on you to help your folks get through this.”{/mprestriction}