Yesterday’s email from Campus Safety magazine highlighted this article on planning for an active shooter incident. Since this is Campus Safety magazine, the focus is on campus environments, such as colleges and hospitals, but the points in the article are applicable to any jurisdiction or organization.
Their main points, I’m happy to see, are reflective of our usual planning efforts. (their points are listed below)
- Engaging leadership in the process
- Developing a collaborative effort
- Allocating resources most effectively
- Considering all possible hazards/threats
- Determining the best course of action
- Establishing a threat assessment team
- Adopting and exercising the plan
Create an account with Campus Safety and you can download the entire document. I was very pleased that the document indicates early on that an active shooter plan is a component of a more comprehensive emergency operations plan. I can’t stress this enough! I’ve seen campuses and other entities have a handfull of hazard-specific plans yet no central plan, which provides overall response information and can be referenced for all hazards, even those you may not have a specific plan for.
This is good information that ties in well with what I expect to be my next post, which is my first co-authored article and centers on an upcoming high profile event which will be experienced around the world.
© 2015 – Timothy Riecker
The Contrarian Emergency Manager 
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