Training
Active Shooter Response Training
By Frank Borelli 2007 Borelli Consulting, Inc
Be warned: I'm getting up on my soapbox. As one of the few "outside" officers who responded to the tragedy at Virginia Tech last spring, and as a trainer for Active Shooter/Immediate Response tactics, I try to pay attention to spree shooting events such as the recent one in Illinois. What amazes me still, and prompted me to write this blog entry, was how training with regard to such events seems to be losing focus.
What do I mean? The Active Shooter / Immediate Response (AS/IR) training boom started after the public outcry in reaction to the police response at Columbine. All over the country agencies began training their officers in AS/IR. There were a couple of issues with the level of training delivered, but we all know law enforcement is predominantly reactive in nature. We trained sufficiently to address the public outcry.
Columbine was in 1999. Contemporary response tactics would have been fantastic if they'd been used at Columbine. They WERE used at Virginia Tech and Cho still managed to kill 30 people in Norris Hall. This was in no way the fault of the police response. You don't get a better response than two fully equipped SWAT Teams on scene in approximately two minutes. Still, the VA Tech event demonstrated that we probably need to evolve our outlook and tactics again.
With all that in mind I had to wonder if we're even keeping up on the "standard" AS/IR training. So, I posted the poll question on the Officer. com homepage. The question was, "When did you last have Active Shooter / Immediate Response training?" As I type this, 441 answers / votes have been posted. Here's the breakdown:
- 1% had attended AS/IR training within the past 30 days.
- 9% had attended AS/IR training within the past 90 days.
- 18% had attended AS/IR training within the past six months.
- 22% had attended AS/IR training within the past year.
- 17% had attended AS/IR training within the past three years.
- 10% attended AS/IR training more than three years ago (which means it's been three to eight years)
- 19% have never had AS/IR training at all.
- There is some good and bad information in those numbers. I am heartened to see that 10% of the recipients have had AS/IR training in the past 90 days.
- It surprises me and makes me proud in my profession to see that a full 50% have had AS/IR training within the past year. That's all the good news.
The other side of the coin is that 29% of the respondents either haven't ever had AS/IR training or have had it more than three years ago. That's a scary statistic and I'll tell you why: our country suffered more Active Shooter events in the past two years (2006 & 2007) than we did in the previous ten years (1995-2005) combined. The number of Active Shooter events each year seems to be accelerating - while we focus our training on other things.
I encourage you - if you're not in that top 50% who have received AS/IR training in the past year - to seek it out. Read about it. Learn the history of it and use your experience and imagination to develop new response tactics. Discuss those with veteran officers, instructors, tactical officers, etc. Make this a topic of discussion that doesn't go away. Why? Because one day it may be YOUR CHILD's life that you save. Beyond that: we ALL took an oath that involved protecting those who can't protect themselves. We should take that oath seriously. Do you?
Author Biography
Frank Borelli
A native of Cumberland, Maryland, Frank attended DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland and immediately thereafter began his law enforcement career as a Military Police Officer in the United States Army.
Having begun his law enforcement career as an MP, and upon receiving his first Honorable Discharge, Frank entered the civilian work force securing work with the Prince George's Community College Campus Police Department.
In 1986 he completed the Prince George's County Police Academy, graduating at the top of his class. In 1988, (then) PFC Borelli was assigned as the training officer for his police agency and became a State of Maryland Certified Police Instructor in 1989. From 1989 to present Frank has developed and delivered training programs encompassing a wide range of topics. Further, he has provided training to officers from Military, Federal, State, County and Local agencies to include the Maryland State Police, Prince George's County Police, Air Force Office of Special Investigations personnel, and police investigators / officers from more than a dozen municipal police agencies. From 1994 to 1999, Officer Borelli was awarded eight Commendations and seven Letters of Appreciation for professionalism and performance in the line of duty. Since the year 2000, Officer Borelli has provided firearms and in-service training, as well as developmental counseling and Homeland Security Coordination services to as many as thirteen municipal agencies each year.
In 1995 Officer Borelli re-entered military service as a member of the Maryland Army National Guard 29th Light Infantry Division, and then the 121st Engineer Battalion gaining experience in infantry and combat engineering tactics. Officer Borelli has received three Honorable Discharges in recognition of his military service.
In addition to his police and military service, Officer Borelli began a writing career in 1999. With several dozen articles published internationally, he has become a recognized expert on police training techniques and technologies with specific focus on special operations in urbanized areas. In addition to the dozens of articles he's had published, he has authored an equal number of specialized training programs now in use by police agencies in the mid-Atlantic region. Lieutenant Borelli is currently a weekly columnist for the Blackwater Tactical Weekly, as well as Editor in Chief for Officer.com, and New American Truth magazine, a monthly publication launched in January �07. Borelli is Editor of the Borelli Consulting Forum News & Intel page and a contributing editor for American Cop magazine, published bi-monthly.
In 2001 Frank Borelli founded Borelli Consulting, Inc. and began working with the Army Test & Transformation Investment Conference (ATTIC), now renamed the Test, Training & Technology Integration (T3I) Office identifying commonalities in civilian law enforcement (CLE) and Army needs for both training and operations. Officer Borelli continues to develop and deliver progressive law enforcement training programs while offering assistance to the Army in identifying technologies mutually beneficial to both communities. Officer Borelli is an adjunct instructor for Strategos International, and is a state certified law enforcement instructor in both Maryland and West Virginia.
Frank Borelli is a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the International Tactical Officers Trainers Association (ITOTA), the Mid-Atlantic Tactical Officers Association (MATOA) and the Maryland Association of School Resource Officers (MASRO).