File 28: In today’s file, the team addresses a serious topic. Active aggressor or active shooter situations are becoming more common that we’d like to admit. There are steps you can take to prepare yourself and your organization for this type emergency. We welcome the Eric Culver and Dale Massey, founders of STAT, a company focused on providing active aggressor training. They’ll share advice and insights on preparing for this dangerous situation. Editor’s Note: This file may not be suitable for all audiences, given the subject matter that will be discussed. Meet Eric and Dale Eric started with the Jefferson County Police in 2001. His father is a retired police officer. After 7 years, he joined the FBI. Eric later returned to the police department, as a member of the SWAT team. The mission of the SWAT team is to save lives. He remained part of SWAT for 16 years and eventually retired after serving 21 years with the police force. Dale joined the police department in 2000. Dale eventually joined SWAT as the Assistant Commander. He eventually retired from the SWAT, as the Team Commander in 2021. He credits Eric’s effort in getting the Louisville’s SWAT team established as one of about 50 full-time teams in the US. Eric came up with a concept to train people, once he and Dale retired. That was the genesis of their company, STAT, based out of Louisville, Kentucky. What Inspired Eric and Dale to Create a Program for Active Aggressor Training? Eric seriously enjoyed being part of SWAT, a small-unit team that worked to hone the skill sets of individual members to function as an effective team. When bad things happened, he wanted to be the one who got the call. Eric recalls joining the police department 1 week before 9/11. SWAT spent most of its time working around active-shooter situations. Over time, the term evolved into active aggressor or armed assailant. They developed a response to the city, modeled off of what they learned from a program called, Rescue Task Force. It’s a collaboration between police, fire and EMS developed to help them more effectively respond to scenes. There have been notable situations in our country’s past, during which this type of integration and execution were not thoroughly planned and the results were tragic. Think back to Columbine, Standard Gravure, and others. Dale and Eric were called to the 2018 J-Town Kroger, active-shooter incident. Eric was one of the first officers to enter the building. Eric comments that while he and Dale have 20+ years of training for these types of situations, the regular individual who may be caught in a situation does not. They decided to build a program to provide these services to individuals and organizations. Their approach is to empower and educate people in a positive way. Why Do People Tend to Avoid the Topic? Dale explains that people often don’t want to think about what could happen. “That’ll never happen to me” is an approach people want to believe. However, just in Louisville, we’ve experienced the Standard Gravure, J-Town Kroger and the Old National Bank shootings. These events are actually under-reported. It takes effort to prepare, plan and train for these potential situations. Most people simple prefer to take the easy approach, which is to ignore the possibility. STAT focuses on empowering people; not scaring them. In the event something does happen, you’ll have options, because you’ve taken steps to prepare yourself and your organization. It’s Similar to an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) Many people take time to prepare for a fire or tornado. Preparing for an active aggressor situation is a similar methodology. STAT Offers Services to Businesses STAT provides a range of services to businesses and organizations. A comprehensive, threat assessment is the first step. STAT will do an onsite assessment of your business environment, security procedures, camera surveillance, etc. It will be simple, but impactful and most importantly, actionable. STAT works closely with Homeland Security. They also do a lot of work with non-profit organizations. Many are able to get grant money to offset some or all of the cost. In addition to site assessments, they offer classroom training, active aggressor training, de-escalation training, medical-based training, live scenarios, custom-content for specific needs, and much more. Jaime has experienced training sessions provided by STAT. There were are few ah-ha moments. One fact she realized is that your typical office first-aid kit is not prepared for this type of emergency. Jamie has been first-aid certified and has completed OSHA-30 training, in addition to other workplace safety training sessions. None of them prepared her for how to pack a wound or apply a tourniquet. STAT taught her that valuable skill. Jamie also appreciates the tips and advice STAT offered regarding the supplies and equipment that should be part of the first-aid kits. She strongly recommends people consider taking these courses, based on her personal experience. Dale points out that the body has 6 important arteries. If one of them were to get severed, a person only has 3 minutes before they bleed out. Knowing how to properly apply a tourniquet and having several of them on hand, can save a life. If the tourniquet is not applied within 1 minute of sustaining the injury, that person will most-likely pass out. This is a time-sensitive event. It’s a skill that’s not hard to learn. But it requires training and preparation. Building Redundancy in the EAP What if your organization has designated a specific individual to be responsible for the medical kits and other procedures, but that person is absent or incapacitated on the day of the event? It’s important to build redundancy into your Emergency Action Plan. This relates to both personnel and equipment, such as medical kits. You have to plan for contingencies. Dale recommends placing the medial kits with or near the AEDs you already have onsite. Is Run, Hide, Fight Still an Appropriate Protocol? Eric explains that this depends on the situation. He begins with some simple definitions. If 1-2 people are shot or attacked at a workplace, it’s considered workplace violence. If 3 or fewer are impacted, it’s considered active shooter/active aggressor. If 4 or more are injured, it’s considered to be a mass casualty situation. The federal government developed the Run, Hide, Fight paradigm in the early 2000s. It was the first methodology for addressing an active aggressor situation. It was a system that employed a linear approach to dealing with the situation. Unfortunately, most people don’t have a mindset that follows this methodology. The STAT Mindset – Escape, Evade, Engage STAT offers training that focuses not on your skillset, but rather, on your mindset. The human mind learns in patterns of 3. Additionally, the letter “E” is the most commonly used letter. Based on these factors, STAT developed training around Escape, Evade, Engage. It’s designed to work everywhere, not just at the office. Escape, Evade, Engage is a decision-making process that gives you options. The goal is to get you thinking, not simply reacting. Eric uses the example of the Old National Bank shooting. Some people decided to run, but once they got out into the street, they turned around to watch. Unfortunately, they were still getting shot at, because they stopped. Instead, they should have continued to run and extend the distance between themselves and the active threat. Is STAT Training Applicable for Schools and Educators? Jason has school-aged children and he thinks about these kinds of topics when he drops off his kids at school, especially at the start of the school year. He asks if STAT provides training for schools, teachers and staff? STAT does a lot of training with schools. Both Dale and Eric are still sworn police officers, in retirement. For instance, they are trying to make Taylorsville and Spencer County, a test-case for the country. There are actually no regulations pertaining to this training. Schools are required to have resource officers (SROs), but there’s no specific funding. The STAT team is also developing content for middle school and high school students. Many schools are hesitant to engage STAT-based services. JCPS, in Louisville, just implemented its own police force. Are they properly equipped and trained for active aggressor situations? A single SRO isn’t the answer for a typical school. A school should have layers of security. STAT uses the CPTED system. The acronym stands for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It helps schools to incorporate security measures into the esthetic environment the school wants to maintain. It creates reactionary-gap time, allowing you to make critical decisions in a time of crisis. Dale stresses the importance of building a safety-culture inside your organization. You can have the tools in place, but if the personnel aren’t taking it seriously, your system is primed to fail. People need to buy into the system so they actively check things and look for breakdowns in the system, on a regular basis. This can be as simple as ensuring exterior doors are locked to prevent an unauthorized individual from gaining access. Eric mentions the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. It was an epic failure, across the board. It highlights the fact that the first responder coming to may not be properly prepared to engage. The average police officer in the US only receives about 4 hours of active shooter response training. In the case of a business, if you have multiple facilities that have been trained in some type of EAP, but the point person is transferre
