Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Thoughts on Active Shooters

Ron Borsch, a 30-year law enforcement veteran who manages the small SEALE (South East Area Law Enforcement) Regional Training Academy in Bedford, Ohio, has some thoughts on responding to active shooter situations. The gist of it is here.
Borsch, who logged 17 years as a part-time SWAT team member before retiring from street work, has analyzed more than 90 active-shooter incidents on the basis of data largely ferreted out from Internet reports. Most involved schools and colleges, but workplaces, shopping malls, churches and other public places are also represented. Among his findings that have helped shape his tactical thinking:

• 98% of active killers act alone.

• 80% have long guns, 75% have multiple weapons (about 3 per incident), and they sometimes bring hundreds of extra rounds of ammunition to the shooting site.

• Despite such heavy armaments and an obsession with murder at close range, they have an average hit rate of less than 50%.

• They strike “stunned, defenseless innocents via surprise ambush. On a level playing field, the typical active killer would be a no-contest against anyone reasonably capable of defending themselves.”

• “They absolutely control life and death until they stop at their leisure or are stopped.” They do not take hostages, do not negotiate.

• They generally try to avoid police, do not hide or lie in wait for officers and “typically fold quickly upon armed confrontation.”

• 90% commit suicide on-site. “Surrender or escape attempts are unlikely.”

Because active shooters seem so intent on killing, it’s often difficult to convince first responders that “this bad guy is one of the easiest man-with-gun encounters they will ever have,” Borsch observes. “Most officers have already faced worse opponents from a personal safety standpoint than these creeps.”
This guy mirrors my thoughts almost exactly. He makes some good points, the biggest is that when confronted with an active shooter, you don't have time to wait for help.

I'll comment more on this later, but right now I have to shower up and get to work.

1 comment:

Rivrdog said...

I remember back about 10 years ago when our S.O. had extensive Active Shooter training. We actually trained in an unused school building, and rules to PREVENT these deadly delays were put into effect.

Sort of.

The rule was the first 4 officers arriving were the "A" team, and they would proceed with room-by-room building clearing.

OK, that got officers inside of the building without waiting for SERT, but it was still too slow, since these new data show that most of the evil is done in the first few minutes.

I recognized that, and in the usual after-action session following training, I raised the point that the first officer in should go toward the sound of gunfire, trust his instincts and training to use cover properly, and directly engage the gunman.

I was hushed by the instructor cadre, who said that the Prime Rule ("go home to mama when the day is done") was still in effect.

I gave up at that point. In a cop's life, his/her entire career can't be ruled by that dicta, because following it ALWAYS puts you behind the success timeline.

The instructors dismissed my suggestions as way too "John Wayne".

So, now that we are faced with a rash of these Active Shooter cases, times will be very bad all around, UNTIL a cop takes the initiative in one of them, breaks these slow-down rules, and enters and successfully engages the shooter.

The data presented are probably correct, and a dose of their own medicine once or twice will be all that's needed to consign this rash of violence to the history books.