Officers learn tactic for dealing with shooters

When it comes to catching a shooter, Southeast Missouri State University Department of Public Safety Lt. Kenny Mayberry said law enforcement is "running on a stop watch."

The shooter, he said, determines when time starts, but it's up to the police to stop it.

A seven-day training course that nearly 200 officers from agencies in Cape Girardeau County completed Tuesday was designed for that purpose.

The training focused on a new method of entering a location that an active shooter has targeted. Instead of waiting for a SWAT team to arrive, or assembling the "four-man diamond" method of searching for the shooter, Mayberry and other instructors taught a solo engagement tactic.

"It addressed the first officer on the scene getting to the location and where the active shooter is at," said Cape Girardeau assistant chief Roger Fields. "The officers now know that when they arrive they go through the door, they listen, they ask questions, they go directly to the threat."

The tactic allows the officer to focus on finding the perpetrator and on saving lives, where the four-man entry tactic may cause officers to lose focus, Mayberry added.

"They're aggressive, but they're not reckless," Mayberry said. "Tactically, if you get four people that have never worked together and then they're thrown into a dynamic event, you have to think of who are the four-man team worrying about?"

The course also offered officers basic skills training, such as providing emergency medical services and handling a routine traffic stop. Every officer portrayed the first responder on the scene of the shooting but also practiced entry and exit techniques into rooms and how to carry victims out and still have cover from the shooter. It was the first active shooter training offered in five years.

Police tactics have evolved considerably, Mayberry said, since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, where officers on scene surrounded the building but made no immediate entry.

"Shooting incidents throughout the years have taught us we don't have the time to wait for SWAT or other teams," Fields said. "We need to act aggressively."

During the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, police used the four-man diamond method. Both tactics are designed to the neutralize the shooter as quickly as possible.

"Training, to me, empowers the police officer with the mindset that just because you're injured you're still able to fight back and stop the threat," Fields said.

Fields said the training addressed a safety priority list in events involving a violent intruder. Officers were taught to tend to hostages, innocent bystanders, themselves and then the perpetrator.

The shooter's "safety doesn't come before ours and our safety doesn't come before a hostage's," he said. "We are subject to putting ourselves in harm's way before someone else does."

The evolution of police response tactics has also changed how institutions, including universities and hospitals, prepare staff and students to respond to horrific situations. Mayberry said the simple lockdown response is no longer a workable factor and Southeast has adopted the ALICE (Alert Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) program. While it's a more comprehensive approach, it also encourages the real first responder -- the victim, the hostage -- to take action.

"It's a more viable option than to just tell your kids to lock the door, shut off the lights and hide in a corner," Mayberry said.

Although Missouri officers are required to have 48 hours of training every three years, Mayberry said there may be a similar course offered within the next 18 months.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

1900 Thilenius St., Cape Girardeau, MO