http://www.borelliconsulting.com/articles/asir15.htm Training Mandates
After the 1999 attack at Columbine High School and the public outcry about police response that followed, law enforcement agencies across the country began developing Active Shooter Response training and delivering as they saw fit. They all prioritized it differently. Some agencies wanted EVERY officer trained within a year. For a ten man agency that was no problem. For New York City it was going to be a process simply because of the numbers they had to train. In some areas though, it was recognized that the training might not occur or include all the players unless it was forced upon an agency; a school district; etc. In some of those areas laws have been passed to mandate the training. That got me to thinking: what training should be mandated? Police: As much as we may not like to think about it, or recognize the need, law enforcement officers today need to expand their basic battle training and tactics. Gone are the day when the worst we will ever have to deal with is an armed robber whose work was interupted and now he's got a few hostages. We unfortunately now have to prepare for the couple-dozen jihadists who take children captive and then terrorize them until such time as an assault occurs or they blow themselves up along with their hostages. If that assault comes it will be made using small unit tactics normally used by members of your military. Today's cops are going to have to start learning some of the same things. Mandated training should include not just generalized small unit tactics for the first four to five cops that arrive. First off, many jurisdictions have no hope of getting that many cops on scene in less than an hour. Second, a four-man team may work a hallway together but rooms get worked by battle teams of two. Therefore, any Active Shooter / Immediate Response program for law enforcement professionals should include training in or for: Patrol Rifle: basic marksmanship, malfunction drills, rate of fire, effective range, etc. While the average law enforcement professional doesn't need to be quite as familiar with his rifle as a Marine, it certainly wouldn't hurt! Firearms Transition Training: For when that patrol rifle is out of ammo and/or malfunctioning beyong immediate correction. Breaching: A number of recent active shooters have barricaded themselves into a structure before beginning their killing. The other side is that they've locked the police out. A method for breaching must be trained. At VA Tech it was with a shotgun. Driving an SUV through a door was an option that was voiced by an experienced SWAT commander after the fact. The bottom line is that we have to find a way in. No matter what we do, the bad guys will eventually learn it and adapt. Our "tool box" has to allow us enough versatility so that we can be unpredictable in our response. Buddy teams: Rather than training all the time in four and five man teams, I recommend starting basic tactical training with two-man buddy teams, referred to in the Army today as "battle buddies". Where there are typically two officers assigned to a single patrol vehicle, these partners have a working history and coordination that can be further built upon. Where officers patrol by themselves in a vehicle then generic commands and tactics have to be developed so that any two officers meeting at a door can work together efficiently. Suppression Fire: Now, I know I'll get a lot of people shaking their heads with this one. Yes, suppression fire. Shooting in the general direction of the bad guys to keep their heads down and allow other officers the ability to move without being engaged. Does this potentially increase risk to students or hostages? Yes. Is that a liability problem? Probably. Will it increase the speed with which the assaulting officers can move forward and engage the bad guys, thereby denying them the opportunity to injure or murder more children / hostages? If done properly, absolutely. What we gain has to be greater than what we stand to lose. This is NOT a tactic that should be used carelessly. However, it is a tactic that officers should at least be familiar with. Fire and maneuver: In a true assault situation, bullets will be flying like they're free. (oh, yeah... a few administrators just cringed at the thought of the cost of bullets being fired like they cost nothing). But for officers to move forward under fire then their movement has to be covered by other officers - or at least by their battle buddy. The two-man buddy team has to learn to work together so that one can move while the other shoots or is in a position to and then vice-versa. They take turns moving forward under the cover of each other's fire or ability to fire. This can be trained with simunitions / paintball equipment. I like to give all the good guys blue ammo, and the bad guys red ammo. When you get a blue spot in your back then you need to talk to your buddy. Flanking: Moving forward to the sound of the fight isn't always a good thing. In fact, only so many people can fight through the same space. We need to train responding officers to analyze the situation as they go and flank where they can. Resupply: The battle to take back Beslan Middle School #1 lasted more than ten hours. How much ammo can you shoot how fast? I can burn through seven magazines of .223 in ten minutes or less for sure. Now, if I'm controlling my fire and only engaging targets in my sights, then it will last longer, but ten hours? I doubt it. Resupply will have to occur. We can't take guns out of the fight and bring in fresh ones - we simply don't have the manpower to do it. We WILL have to plan and train for resupply. Trauma Care (basic immediate action): What are the chances of getting shot or seriously cut in the midst of a battle? Pretty good. That's why it's called BATTLE. However, in a fight to save children how many officers want to stop when they're injured? If they have a warrior's heart, the answer is none. They want to stay in the fight. If they have a life-threatening injury resulting from heavy blood loss, then they should be able to treat their own wound(s) to minimize or stop the bleeding and then get back in the fight. If their buddy is down and circumstances permit it, they should be able to treat their buddy's wound. When the action has cleared then every law enforcement professional on hand should be able to provide medical aid to the victims. Basic trauma care should be mandatory in every Active Shooter / Immediate Response program. _____ Fire / EMS: Our uniformed brothers (and sisters) in Public Safety. They will most assuredly be onhand at any active shooter / immediate action event. If the action is going on long enough, you will find some of these dedicated folks eager to get into the building - a few of them even while the shooting is still going on. And, I ask you, why not? They know the risk. They have needed skills. They can grab and carry out victims as well as, or better than, most cops. But to make those entries behind a team of officers and do their job, they need to be brought up to speed. Environment familiarization: They need to be realistically briefed on what they might find and under what conditions they might have to function. We don't need to scare them into changing professions but we don't need to sugarcoat anything either. Entry protocols: They need to know how to make entry behind a team and what they should or shouldn't do. They need to be taught how to seek cover QUICKLY. Oh, and all those training mandates above about self-aid should apply to these paramedics as well. Actions inside: What's acceptable and what's not? Not all public safety workers agree with the sometimes necessary aggressive actions of law enforcement professionals. They need to be taught, in structured training, that they can take no action to stop any officer from engaging in battle. No matter what they see the officer doing, the EMS personnel are not there to critique, agree or disagree with, or affect in any potentially negative way the police officer or deputy. The EMS personnel are their only to evacuate and treat victims. Evacuation: can't be haphazard. It has to be choreographed as much as possible - although we all know that the best laid plans fall apart under fire. Priorities: The EMS personnel have to be briefed on the order of preferred patient treatment. That order, in any school attack should be: - students first - staff and faculty second - themselves third - cops fourth (we may not like it, but we just have to do it) _____ School Staff and Faculty: Unless these people are military service veterans they will be completely taken by surprise by any aggressive actions from the police / deputies. They will most likely be cowed by the events and the attacker. It is important that they understand the protective and supportive role they can play to prevent or minimize injuries and deaths. In fact, they probably have more power in an Active Shooter situation that we police do. Ed Sanow, in the Nov-Dec issue of "Tactical Response" magazine said, "They must be told that the officers cannot make it in time." He couldn't be more right as was unfortunately displayed at VA Tech. However, once the officers at VA Tech arrived and breached the door, the shooter killed himself. So by their very arrival the police resolved the situation. It won't always be that way, but the bottom line is that we can only get anywhere so fast. While we're on the way and killing is still going on, the teachers and staff have the ability to slow down any attacker. Locks on every classroom door, lockable hallway fire doors to segment the school, etc can be effective in slowing down an attacker. _____ National Guard: Identified potential roles: In a school siege event committed by terrorists, there will be a HUGE media frenzy and plenty of local population out. The National Guard will be needed to support the law enforcement components on scene. But if the Guardsmen don't know what their duties are BEFORE it happens then their performance will be less efficient. Sheriffs and Police Chiefs should be meeting with National Guard unit commanders and setting up training. No, this doesn't violate Posse Comitatus. In fact, nothing does until we give soldiers power of arrest. CROSS TRAINING or TRAINING TOGETHER does not violate Posse Comitatus. Some of the duties that the National Guard should be prepared to perform wouild include: - perimeter - crowd control - evacuation support - medical support - resupply support (I bet they can get bullets faster than cops can) _____ The Media: Some of our least favorite people at times, the media may be able to help us with a few things. But before they show up and start causing problems as they try to collect information and get their "scoop", wouldn't it be nice if they knew the rules about such situations? It would be wise to train them as well. Brief them in advance on what you / your agency will or won't tolerate. They can cry about the 1st Amendment all they want: a secure perimeter is still a secure perimeter. To make things so smoother you should: - define those absolutes - no breach of external perimeter or they get removed - provide regular briefings in a predetermined location - make deals with them that will give you access to their helicopters and pilots if the situation makes it necessary. _____ The Community: We neglect "them" all too often and tend to view them as potential criminals that will never be helpful to us. By the same token, we all know good people who we know would help us if we ever asked. Our community is full of people who would be glad to step up and help in the event of a school siege or active shooter. To get those volunteers lined up - those support channels identified - you need to invite them in and brief them. Before they know what to give you, they need you to identify your needs. So, go out into your community and: - visit business that provide consumables. Ask them to commit to donations of food and water. - provide them a little history on active shooters and why you're preparing - tell them what you're doing without being specific; general preparation is always a good thing - tell them why you're preparing: it's all about the children and our future - identify your priorities for them. When they realize how low cops are on the list they feel nicer toward us. - introduce to them all of the major players. It helps to have the Fire Chief with you working hand in hand (figuratively). If you can do all of the above you'll be a far cry ahead of many jurisdictions. Stay safe. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
