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What was that? Trucks backfiring? Gates slamming? Does your
staff know the difference between gunfire, traffic noises and construction
sounds? Those familiar with gunfire will tell you that the sound is not
what you hear portrayed in movies or on television.
Today it is
possible that you will have an active shooting incident on premises, no
matter the type facility under your command. And, before formulating plans,
there are questions and perspectives to take into account so you can devise
the best approach given the unique realities of your situation.
Often, it helps to
start with a series of questions: What are you prepared to do? Are there
armed as well as unarmed security officers in the facility? Are there
international as well as US organizations? Neither? If you have higher-risk
tenants, do they also literally have armed services totally independent of
anyone else's control? How will all this fit into your plan? What exactly
is your role in this -are you a tenant, employee, client or perhaps the
landlord?
The right starting
point might be to identify how many different security groups are present
on a daily basis and which are 24/7 operations, and how many are on duty in
off hours. Do all the teams have an across-the-board communication program
that meshes with the team you manage? Probably not... Perhaps that is a
first step you put in place, now, when there is nothing extraordinary to
address.
Is there data on
the response time for law enforcement and emergency medical services? How
long ago was the last incident requiring either group? Has anything in your
immediate vicinity changed: traffic patterns, construction, special events?
Is your facility in a rural, suburban, or urban area? Is it served by a
large police department or a small department, which depends on mutual aid
from other agencies?
Looking at the
overview: the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines
an active shooter as: "an individual actively engaged in killing or
attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area." The New
York City Police Department (NYPD) has distilled this definition to include
only those cases that go beyond the intended victim(s) to others.
After the
HOUSTONREADY video, RUN-HIDE-FIGHT is a fairly well-known approach for
responding to an active shooter situation in a building. Some in the
security industry refer to the concept as the ABCs -in other words: (Get)
Away, Barricade, Confront. No matter what terms are used the concepts need
to be understood.
Before conducting
drills with building occupants, it helps if they think through response
plans. In an evacuation, we want them to leave behind their belongings,
visualize their entire escape route before beginning to move, and avoid
using elevators or escalators. Help everyone become familiar with the
various egress routes and where they will be on the street once outside the
building itself. The goal is to get away as far and as fast as
possible.
I
f hiding is the
next option, we want occupants to know the locations of secure areas in the
building. We may have even designated shelter locations. People using this
sheltering area will have to lock the door, blockade the entire doorway
with whatever furniture is available, cover the windows, turn off the
lights, lie on the floor, silence electronic devices (phones) and remain
quiet... not an easy feat for a group to do on a spontaneous basis.
Fighting to save
your life is the last alternative. If there is a group together, they may
have a better chance to survive. Working as a team, they can disrupt,
disable and incapacitate their attacker. It all has to be done ad hoc, but
if the approach has been thought through ahead of time -say during a drill,
the odds might improve for the occupants. Throw things, push, shove, hit,
kick, yell..... Improvise weapons, use office supplies (stapler, phones) or
building equipment, maybe a fire extinguisher.
Ideally, we can
actually get everyone to train for this unsettling possibility and that is
far more than paying lip service or issuing a memo. It is an ever-evolving
process: implementing, activating, reviewing, revising, redefining and
re-implementing procedures.
Incorporate how to
respond when law enforcement arrives on scene: follow all official
instructions, remain calm, keep hands empty and visible at all times, and
avoid making sudden or alarming movements. Most of your tenants have never
walked around with their hands in the air!
Tailor the
training to the specifics for each area of the facility and if possible
have the hiding locations on the inside of the building, close to the core
of the structure. These are some of the important features to have as part
of the designated areas: thick walls, solid doors with locks, minimal
interior windows.
Stock the shelter
areas with water, emergency first aid kits, and communication devices. Run
various drills and do them frequently so staff and occupants are familiar
with their options in different parts of the facility. All too often people
are only familiar with their immediate work areas, having little or no
knowledge of the rest of the building(s) and the surrounding area.
How will your
security staff react? Make them aware that first responders may not have an
accurate description or any description of the perpetrator(s) and therefore
must consider all they encounter as potential threats to their own safety.
Will occupants
follow the commands of the building staff and first responders, to ensure
everyone's safety? Better to review this in detail, ahead of time, during
the training programs. Help people realize that law enforcement's first
responsibility is to end the threat, not render aid to victims.
Just as we've
trained people to get details if they receive a bomb threat phone call,
when someone learns there is an active shooter on premises, the person has
to ask for as much information as possible: location, description, number
of shooters, direction they are traveling, etc.
Distributing a
pre-prepared blank form with the whole series of questions to ask, that
everyone sees and reviews when there is no threat, may help people who are
not usually involved in reporting incidents.
Better to call 911
twice, and give every bit of information -even if it seems trivial, then to
assume that someone else has already done it.
How did we decide
that we'd communicate across the entire building, reaching all the
stakeholders with every bit of essential information we've got? Practice
makes perfect.... Can we track the shooter via our surveillance video
systems, card access and security personnel?
By preplanning and
training, we can alleviate some stress that occurs during an
emergency. Here are some of the questions that we have to answer in
our pre-plan and in our training program:
· Where should the
Incident Command Station be located?
· How should it be
stocked?
· What supplies are
necessary? Copies of what documents, procedures, list of necessary
notifications, water and food?
· How will your firm
continue its business if your facility becomes a crime scene and is
inaccessible during the post-event investigation?
· How and where will
employees be notified to resume business after the incident?
· How will we handle
employees who won't and/or can't return to the work location due to the
incident?
These are just a
few of the issues that make pro-activity not re-activity the approach to
take.
What will we need
to share with the emergency responders? Have floor plans, keys, access
cards, and facility information available in a "pre-packaged"
form in an easy-to-get-to location.
If staffing a
command station is not feasible during the incident, establish an alternate
incident command station in a safe location. Relocate necessary documents
from the command station to the incident command station
Can another copy
of all the essential documents be in a separate secured location? Perhaps
that is with building engineering or in the "cloud".
If it isn't
already part of the plans your organization has for dealing with power
outages and weather catastrophes, consider having an alternate full command
station pre-stocked with all necessary documents and items (water, energy
bars...) Regularly review the command station(s) and ensure that
those documents and procedures are current, that the supplies are fresh.
As we look at the
pre-planning to deal with potential crises, it is also to our advantage to
have management liaise with emergency responders ahead of time. Generally
we also want to have someone assigned to act as spokesperson; to
communicate with occupants, media or other parties requesting
information.
When an incident
occurs it may be the only incident occurring at that time but it could be
one of several designed to occupy, stretch thin, and stress emergency
responders. Formulate your incident plans to ensure a standard, yet be
fluid enough so you can adapt to what may be an ever-changing or escalating
situation.
Mark V. Murphy is
Director of Security & Life Safety at Worldwide Plaza, George Comfort
& Sons, Inc., 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019. He holds a
FDNY C of F Fire Safety/Emergency Action Plan Director, as well as a
Certificate of Property Management from NYU and a MS in Organizational Leadership.
He has served as the Treasurer of The Rockland County Shields for many
years and has been elected President for 2016 and 2017. Contact Mark
at: mmurphy@gcomfort.com or by phone at: 212.258.3765
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