Police teach city employees to stop active shooters

As a video about a mass shooting flickered across a screen Wednesday afternoon, shots rang out in the darkened conference room at the Osage Centre.

Most of the 56 Cape Girardeau city employees in the room gasped and turned in the direction of the sound as a man nearest the shooter jumped to his feet and grabbed his chair, brandishing it like a weapon.

Fortunately for the audience, the shooter was a Cape Girardeau Police Department detective, and the shots were just blanks.

Had the situation been more serious, however, the man's response would have been correct, officers said.

"I'm giving you permission like I give my kids permission: 'If somebody comes with a gun in your classroom, you've got my permission to kick his ass,'" assistant police chief Roger Fields told the audience.

Officer Richard Couch of the Cape Girardeau Police Department speaks to attendees of ALICE training Wednesday at the Osage Centre. (Laura Simon)

Fields' permission and the startling illustration were part of an ALICE training session on how civilians can increase their chances of surviving a mass shooting.

ALICE is an acronym that stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate.

Cpl. Darren Estes said the acronym does not represent step-by-step instructions, nor are all the elements necessary in all situations, but some or all of the elements can be adapted to fit the situation at hand.

Estes and officer Richard Couch talked about using any available means to alert others to the presence of a shooter and keep them informed about what is happening.

Knowing what is happening allows people to develop a plan for survival, be it barricading themselves in a room to keep a shooter out, jumping out of a window and running away or using any means available to counter a shooter, officers said.

Too often, lockdown is the first and only response, Couch said.

The problem with locking down a building until help arrives is that it takes an average of five to six minutes for police to get to a crime scene, he said.

"How many rounds do you think can be fired in five or six minutes?" Estes said.

If victims are sitting still or cowering under desks, they are much easier targets than if they were moving around, throwing objects at the shooter's head or creating other distractions that make it more difficult to fire accurately, Estes said.

Challenging a shooter is no guarantee of safety, but it tends to improve the odds of survival, he said, noting that over the past 10 years, more than 70 percent of gunshot victims survived their injuries.

"Just because you're shot doesn't mean you're dead," Couch said.

Couch showed a video in which a shooter came into a school board meeting, spray-painted a symbol on a wall behind him and brandished a gun.

Several people fled, but others sat still as a board member attempted to reason with the man.

"If a guy walks into your facility with a gun and I show up and you're talking to him, I'm going to be very disappointed," Couch said.

Estes said those who sat still simply had not been taught to fight back.

"Just because they have a gun doesn't mean they win," Fields said.

Police have conducted several ALICE training sessions recently. Fields said the group Wednesday brought to 284 the total number of city employees who have undergone the training.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Osage Centre, Cape Girardeau, Mo.