By NATE KING
Salina Post
For years, students and business leaders across the country have been trained on what to do during emergency situations, such as a fire or tornado. On Feb. 15, 145 people representing churches, schools, first responders, businesses, and concerned community members, from across central Kansas, gathered for a different kind of training-- active shooter training.
The Saline County Office of Emergency Management hosted the free event and lunch was sponsored by Wilson Security Solutions LLC.
Presenters included Chuck Clanahan, protective security advisor for Department of Homeland Security, Melissa McCoy, public information officer for Saline County, and Captain Jim Hughes from the Saline County Sheriff's Office.
The all day exercise took place at the Webster Conference Center, 2601 N. Ohio Street. Michelle Weis, director of Saline County emergency management, said that she was very surprised by the turnout.
"I told Melissa that I wanted people to register so that way like if I knew there were only 45 people coming I could take some chairs out," Weis said.
If anything, more chairs will be needed for the next active shooter training. Weis said event interest was so great there was a wait list of 15 additional people who wanted to attend the event.
As to why there was such an interest in learning about active shooter training and crisis management, Weis said the environment surrounding active shooter situations is becoming more common and more severe.
"Just like natural disasters, some become more severe depending on the climate," Weis said. "I think that unfortunately, the climate for active violence has shifted, and it's now the means for people to vent, whether that be they have mental health issues, or they're disgruntled in some aspect, people now feel like this is the way that they choose to express their feelings or discontent towards a firm, former employer or place of business or school."
Planning for the 2023 Active Shooter Security Workshop began shortly after Saline County held its 2019 active shooter training workshop. Weiss said that she and her team at the county level wanted to ensure that they were proactive in providing training.
"Planning for this year's active shooter security workshop began in 2020," Weiss said. "Chuck is the only one who does what he does in the state. I also didn't want to drag my feet so long, and then something happened. Then it looks like we were doing this workshop because something happened, I wanted people to know that we've been thinking about this and wanting to train on this before something happened."
Clanahan's presentation focused on the message, "See something say, something." His presentation included videos emphasizing the importance of community involvement in identifying threats and a Q&A session where he asked event attendees hypothetical questions on what they or their business would do in the case of an active shooter.
Clanahan represented DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA's goal is to enhance incident preparedness through a "whole community" approach. Clanahan provided event attendees with materials and information to better prepare themselves and their businesses when dealing with an active shooter situation, focusing on behaviors that represent pre-incident red flags of active shooters, potential attack methods, how to develop emergency plans and what actions to take during an incident.
Clanahan reiterated multiple times during his presentation, that it isn't a matter of "if" an active shooter situation will occur, but "when."
According to the Gun Violence Archive, in 2022 there were 647 mass shootings. An active shooter is an individual who is engaged in killing, or attempting to kill, people in a confined and populated area. Active shooter incidents are often unpredictable. Amid the chaos, anyone can play an integral role in mitigating the impacts of an active shooter incident.
According to CISA's workshop materials, in many cases, there is no pattern or method to the selection of victims by an active shooter, and these situations are by their very nature unpredictable and evolve quickly. Because active shooter situations are often over within 10 to 15 minutes, before law enforcement arrives on the scene, individuals must be prepared both mentally and physically to deal with an active shooter situation.
DHS trained attendees on using the, "run, hide, fight" method when dealing with an active shooter situation
Evacuate/run If there is an accessible escape path. When attempting to evacuate the premises. Be sure to:
• Have an escape route and plan in mind
• Evacuate regardless of whether others agree to follow
• Leave your belongings behind
• Help others escape, if possible
• Prevent individuals from entering an area where the active shooter may be
• Keep your hands visible
• Follow the instructions of any police officers
• Do not attempt to move wounded people
• Call 911 when you are safe
Hide If evacuation is not possible, find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you. Your hiding place should:
• Be out of the active shooter’s view
• Provide protection if shots are fired in your direction (i.e., an office with a closed and locked door)
To prevent an active shooter from entering your hiding place:
• Lock the door
• Blockade the door with heavy furniture
How to respond when an active shooter is in your vicinity
If the active shooter is nearby:
• Lock the door
• Silence your cell phone and/or pager
• Turn off any source of noise (i.e., radios, televisions)
• Hide behind large items (i.e., cabinets, desks)
• Remain quiet
If evacuation and hiding out are not possible
• Remain calm
• Dial 911, if possible, to alert police to the active shooter’s location
• If you cannot speak, leave the line open and allow the dispatcher to listen
Take action against the active shooter
As a last resort, and only when your life is in imminent danger, attempt to disrupt and/or incapacitate the active shooter by:
• Acting as aggressively as possible against him/her
• Throwing items and improvising weapons
• Yelling
• Committing to your actions
• If you cannot speak, leave the line open and allow the dispatcher to listen
McCoy also spoke at the workshop. She conveyed to attendees the importance of establishing a crisis communication plan within their business.
In March of last year, Olathe East had an active shooter situation. In the hours that followed that frightful situation, USD 233 Superintendent Brent Yeager issued a statement. McCoy used his remarks following the incident as an example of what businesses should do following a crisis situation.
McCoy also used an example of what businesses should not do following a crisis. The example video was an interview between a daycare administrator and a journalist in Memphis following a crisis situation where a drug dealer attempted to flee police and hide inside a daycare facility. The fleeing suspect knocked on the door of the facility and was let inside, no questions asked.
During the interview the administrator does not take responsibility and blames others, before walking out on the interview.
Both examples helped shine a light on how important a business or entity's message is following any crisis.
The workshop also included a presentation by Hughes on the importance of tactical first aid.
Five years ago, Hughes attended a tactical first aid training in Georgia where he met two instructors who also happened to be veterans. Hughes said that both of the instructors he met were combat veterans and both had were injured in combat. For one of the veterans, what saved his life was a $150 first aid kit he had received in training.
The two veterans Hughes mentioned, teamed up with the STOP THE BLEED campaign and the federal government to create a tactical first aid class for law enforcement officers.
Hughes said that advances made by military medicine and research in hemorrhage control during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have better informed the medical community and first responders.
"Originally it was a class for cops in the field to apply while taking on gunfire," Hughes said "This class teaches cops how to both return gunfire and put a tourniquet, simultaneously."
Hughes said there are eight instructors in the Saline County Sheriff's Office who have been through this training and are qualified to give this training to others.
Hughes and other law enforcement officers in Saline County thought the public could also benefit from this training.
"We decided, to take out all the 'pew, pew' cop stuff and get this basic information out to other people in the community," Hughes said.
Hughes and members of the community got together and created a class based on the tactical first aid class, except designed to teach non-law enforcement individuals.
Hughes said that the tactical first aid training is different than what paramedics learn in their course work.
"We are not teaching people how to be a paramedic," Hughes said. "We are teaching you how to save your life and we are teaching you how to save someone else."
Hughes said that waiting during an active shooter situation for paramedics and EMTs to arrive, dress your wounds and save your life is futile.
"During an active shooter situation it is chaotic and there is a lot of gunfire. For the five to seven minutes that you are in that room, in 45 seconds you could bleed out through arterial bleeding," Hughes said. "'Who is going to be there to save your life?' You are. You are going to have to save your own life. They [paramedics] are not coming in until the threat is neutralized."
Hughes said the Saline County Sheriff's Office will be ready to administer the three hour tactical first aid class in approximately two months.
"The tactical first aid class is not just for active shooter situations," Hughes said. "What if you are cutting wood and a chainsaw gets away from you. If you have a tactical first aid kit and know how to use it, it could save your life. What if you come across someone on the road who got in a car accident and they have a severed hand? We are going to teach you how best to respond to these types of situations."
Hughes said a Kansas trooper recently received an award for saving someone's life using a gun shot wound kit for an arterial wound that occurred during a car accident.
"When we teach this class to law enforcement officers, we add stress and we put soapy water on their hands to replicate blood," Hughes said "We put a little bit of stress into the situation. It isn't military bootcamp, but we show you can do all of that with some training and a tactical first aid kit."
Hughes told Salina Post the tactical first aid class, which will be offered to the public before the end of the year, is entirely hands on.
"By the time you complete the training you will be be able to put a tourniquet on yourself blindfolded," Hughes said.