School Shooting "Response " Options, Part II

Responding to School Active Shooter Incidents (ASI's)

In yesterday's blog, several issues with the ALICE approach were identified.  There are hidden financial costs due to Workman's Comp claims that, nation-wide, likely run into the millions.  Some schools that have replaced their emergency plans with ALICE.  The presentation approach used by ALICE is not true, criterion-based training, meaning that no effort is made to determine how well attendees have learned the material.  ALICE proposes that school personnel, and in certain circumstances students, engage in Close-Quarter Combat (CQC), which the Marine Corps defines as "physical confrontation between two or more combatants."

In thousands of assessments across the country, Safe Havens International personnel have found that school staff, some of whom have received ALICE and other 'proactive response' training, are responding improperly when faced with gun situations that are not ASI's.

There are possible serious liability issues with the implementation of ALICE, especially in its current state.  In a recent article of a school board in California advocating this approach, a member of the administrative staff said, "It also means a bad call could put lives at risk, but Lilga said that should not affect staff decisions. She said they are covered by Good Samaritan laws, which prevents people from being liable for civil damages if they act in good faith to help in emergency situations." 

This statement may not likely survive court scrutiny.  If a school trains an employee and the employee then makes a bad decision, even in good faith, then liability may still be conferred upon the school, if not the employee.

Analysis

The question then becomes, if ALICE and other 'proactive response' options are of concern, what are the alternatives?

1.  Use the All Hazards Approach, in which a school conducts regular risk and threat assessments, mitigates and prepares for identified risks/threats, coordinates their activities with local first responders, uses the National Incident Management System and the Incident Command System to respond and recover from any incident.  Under this approach, preparedness for an ASI would be one protocol among many in a school's emergency plan.

2. Use The Window of Life, a process for approaching the first 30 seconds of an incident, the critical time in which a situation can be won or lost by the decisions made.  Safe Havens International has a short, free video on The Window of Life.  A free, downloadable poster can also be found on Safe Haven's website.  The process is easy to remember; Take care of yourself, take care of others, protect your space and contact public safety.

3. Use a concept called "Permission to Live".  A well-trained, empowered employee can see beyond a written emergency protocol, and will know when it is appropriate to act outside of a protocol.  For example, during an ASI the protocol may call for a lockdown, but the employee may see an opportunity to safely evacuate his/her students.  He or she should not necessarily be constrained by the protocol, but guided by them.  The key is empowering the employee and giving them the means to be able to think tactically during high-stress moments.

Under ALICE, staff are given presentations on what to do during an incident, and are essentially instructed to "engage".  Even after being told to do so only as a last resort, what the participant remembers is "engage".  No attempt is made to assess the participant's retention of the material, so once the presentation is over, the schools are left to their own devices. 

What the school should do is to provide a protocol to guide actions, based upon a teacher's own comfort level, knowledge and background.  A teacher who is attempting to evacuate a class under fire when the teacher is ill-prepared to do so, or has not been trained to do so would most likely end up with tragic results, thus that particular teacher would follow the lockdown protocol.

We should be asking if schools should be ordering teachers to engage in CQC, even as a last resort.  There are those who have the personal inclination, background, and even training to engage in CQC.  But what of those school staff who do not have the personal inclination or background, even after they have received training?

It is imperative that schools take the time to consider these points before sending themselves down a path that may lead to tragedy.

School Shooting "Response" Options?

School Shooting Response

The Greenfield Daily Reporter reports that Appleton, WI schools are considering ALICE.  ALICE stands for Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate.  With each new shooting, schools are looking for a quick fix, based upon emotions from Sandy Hook and other shootings, and ALICE seems to give it.  But does it really provide what people hope?

Analysis

Michael Dorn, in a soon-to-be-released blog, outlines some hidden financial burdens of this program in the form of workmen's comp claims.  There is also a lack of a research base, and issues with implementation of poor training practices.

Around the country, Safe Havens International has found schools that have replaced their emergency plans with ALICE, which is not for what ALICE was intended.  While such implementation is not at the direction of any ALICE proponent, this shows the care that schools need to take when implementing a new program.  The courts require, and parents expect, due diligence by the school when considering changes to a school's emergency plans.

Some questions parents should ask of their schools, and schools should ask of themselves:
1. Does the school utilize All-Hazards planning?
All-Hazards planning helps a school prepare to face any threat, natural or man-made, that the school has identified as a viable risk.  A 'proactive response' strategy like ALICE is best used as a tool in this toolbox, not as a plan in and of itself.

2. Is the school properly training its staff in the implementation of its emergency plan?
The workmen's comp claim mentioned above are a sign of improper training.  Are the teachers actually being trained, or are they being presented to?  Training involves the attainment of an established criteria that demonstrates basic competence, followed by repetitive training that keeps the learned skill fresh and possibly even increase the level of competence.  Presenting is just passing along information, and passes along the burden of retaining the knowledge to the recipient.

Specifically, a program like ALICE is teaching teachers, and in some cases students, how to employ Close Quarter Combat (CQC) against a shooter.  While we can all agree that passively sitting in a room and getting shot is a bad thing, telling a lay person what to do without giving them the true means to implement it is just as bad.

A soldier in US Army Basic Training is provided 40 hours of basic hand-to-hand training.  This provides a trainee with the basic knowledge of unarmed combat, and is at least 20 times more instruction than an ALICE trainee receives.

3. SHOULD a school be providing such training to its staff and students?
There is an old saying, "Just because one can do a thing doesn't mean a person should do that thing."  We can tell our teachers and children to attack an attacker without giving them the proper tools, but should we?

People enter into law enforcement and the military knowing ahead of time what may be expected of them.  There is extensive screening and training that takes place to allow these people, who already have a propensity to deal with aggression, to face aggression.

Education is not one of those professions.  It is a caring, nurturing profession that does not lend itself to facing aggression. Do we want this profession to turn into one in which steely-eyed, square-jawed warriors will face any threat?  While this sounds great, in theory, how practical is it?

Great consideration should be given before we turn our schools into Spartan enclaves.  In subsequent posts, I will examine facets of ALICE, and provide sound, researched tactics that will help schools better respond in the unlikely event a shooter enters their school.