Columbine tactics

Yesterday was, almost unbelievably, the 10th anniversary of the killings at Columbine High School in Colorado.

In this horrible event, which I am sure you are familiar with, the swat Team was on scene and ready to go in 45 minutes after the call came out. The police didn't get to some of the injured until hours after the shooting began and was well over. 45 minutes is actually a good response time to call out a SWAT team, the members being either at work somewhere else in regular uniform, or at home. They have to all assemble somewhere with their gear and someone has to bring the vehicles. After a quick briefing, they can do their thing. But, while 45 minutes is surprisingly quick for the cops on the outside, it is an eternity for people in the middle of being shot, or bleeding on the school floor.

As a direct result of this incident, Law Enforcement across the country are now trained in "active shooter" scenarios. At Columbine, the first two officers on the scene stayed back and traded shots with Klebold and Harris, trying to contain the scene and wait for back up, as they had been trained and directed to do. Now, in an "active shooter" situation, the first cops on the scene will team up and go stop the shooting immediately.

A cop might even have to dive in himself, if it will save lives. At the North Carolina nursing home shooting, a lone officer stopped the killings by going in himself and shooting the gunman. No waiting for SWAT, just go in and get it done.

We've done "active shooter" training, chasing a gunman through a school with just a couple of guys. While we were doing it, we got some complaints from parents that violent encounters, event though they were just for training and not done while any kids were around, were happening at the School. Yes, it is much better if nothing bad ever happens anywhere, including schools. But, if it does, it really does help to be prepared.

Here is some more info on how and why Columbine changed police tactics and here is wikipedia's description of the incident.