Posted by ecombsdev on April 27, 2019
I am shaking my head reading this article about a local PD who, probably with the best of intentions, have turned an active shooting training into a misguided attempt to put “fear” in the place of skill or strategies. You can check it out HERE.
It was under the guise of increasing the tension of the training but fell flat on its face in execution. Shooting people with pellet or airsoft guns will indeed make them feel the pain, but when I do school safety training, I want them to remember the plan!
What good is creating a fearful, painful place in our schools? And it is doubly worrying if that school has no plan in place. To teach a skill, such as thinking under pressure, you really should start with the smaller skills of keeping calm, pre-planning possible movement options and how to take cover from fire.
I remember one school wanted me to teach all of their teachers to fire weapons. The problem is, this can create a much more dangerous environment than when we start. Without having to jump into any political argument, guns are tools just like any other tool someone can use for a job. The hammer in the wrong hands at a work site can indeed cause problems. It is more so with firearms.
Principals, please start your safety and security training with a plan! I believe in realistic training, but that training should be systematic and purposeful. Scaring the daylights out of someone simply doesn’t work. Should a shooting event occur, believe me, they will already be scared, but do they know what to do? Do the teachers have options and strategies they have practiced they can call upon to better protect their students and their selves? Finally, do they know what to do when the more plausible threat occurs (fire, violent individual, shelter-in-place, etc.)?
