American law enforcement is faced with an imminent threat commonly referred to as the Active Shooter. The Active Shooter, as defined by this author, is an armed individual who has used continuous deadly force on the populace in order to achieve their particular objective. An Active Shooter will typically engage in this horrific act with the expectation of being killed (or killing) themselves. Furthermore, history has demonstrated that the Active Shooter typically stems from the organization in which they target, giving them intimate knowledge of the area.
To date, America's communities have had the fortune of minimal exposure to the effects of the Active Shooter. American law enforcement has an obligation to protect their citizens from this forthcoming threat. In order to accomplish this objective, a concise and solid action plan must be created and implemented. This action plan must incorporate not only America's law enforcement but also America’s citizens. A unified goal to identify, prevent and terminate the Active Shooter must be embraced. In order to understand the Active Shooter, a synopsis of their motivational beliefs must be understood. Identifying characteristics of the Active Shooter, along with their threat to the American public and the public's response, is essential.
American law enforcement has historically been tasked with protecting their citizens from the traditional criminal element; however, their true challenge is approaching. They are challenged with a new non-traditional criminal. Intelligence sharing, swift and precise decision-making are the elementary tools in defeating this threat. A solid action plan to combat this ever-increasing threat is paramount to the safety of American citizens and culture. The label Active Shooter brings fear, panic and confusion to the western world. The act itself comes with little warning and spreads grand pandemonium. The Active Shooter prefers soft targets rather than hard targets. The terminology for hard and soft targets derives from their vulnerability and accessibility to public access. Areas that typically constitute soft targets are schools, shopping malls, churches and public gathering places.
Unlike other cultures whose law enforcement organizations are tasked with the obligation of combating the Active Shooter, America's law enforcement is vastly different. Cultural freedoms of which Americans have grown accustomed forbid American law enforcement from utilizing tactics utilized by other cultures. American law enforcement is charged with maintaining a balance of its citizens' freedoms and maintaining their safety; therefore, severe organizational change must occur. The entire community, to include its schools and business community must participate.
Properly combating the Active Shooter requires understanding of the psychological motivation that inspires these individuals. Modern times have increased the Active Shooter's popularity as a renegade or problem individual. Although many blame the media, the human desensitization from electronic games, or the ever-strained family unit for this increasing violence; the reality is that incidents involving an Active Shooter are on the increase. Therefore, a cohesive organizational mind shift in America must occur to deter this threat.
Throughout the country, law enforcement entities are enthusiastically training their personnel on Active Shooter drills. However, the majority of the general public, the victims that are truly affected by this criminal, have failed to become proactive in deterring this scenario from affecting their work or school environment. They have become reactive in nature, believing that law enforcement will be their rescuers. The public, in cohesion with law enforcement, must create a survivalist mind set. As a unified community, we must learn to identify the various stages of this criminal element. Once identified, a course of action to institute assistance to that individual, their family and the community must be swiftly implemented. The end goal is to identify and learn the characteristic build-ups of an Active Shooter.
The Active Shooter typically will progress through three stages before reaching their fourth, final Execution stage. During stage one, classified as the Visionary stage; the Active Shooter will begin to envision himself committing the act. He may engulf himself with violent video games, practice shooting techniques and imagine himself as being immortalized through media coverage. He may spur a competitive drive by analyzing other Active Shooting Incidents and focus on inflicting more casualties than previous incidents.
The individual will then progress to stage two, the Developmental stage and like a predator, he will analyze his prey. He will identify building layouts, viable threats, such as large threatening males, security measures in place and best times of approach in which allow easy access to his arena. Furthermore, a priority for the Active Shooter is to inflict as many casualties as possible. To accomplish this he will familiarize himself with the location in which maximum targets, innocent citizens, are congregated. He will analyze his plan of attack. Taking account of his weaponry, armament he will compose and practice concealment techniques and transcribe a meticulous plan of attack. During the later part of this phase, the individual will attempt to requisite the materials required to execute his plan. He will attempt to gain weapons and explosive devices, often times conducting research on the internet. He will fabricate his whereabouts to loved ones in order to account for missing time, as he conducts dry-runs through the operation, mentally preparing him self for the Execution stage.
The Active Shooter will then progress to the third stage, the Advance stage. This is the last stage in which intervention can occur by a secondary party that would result in the termination of the shooters intended actions. During the Advance stage, the shooter is mentally and physically prepared to carry out his mission. During these first three stages the Active Shooter's plans can be stopped. However, it must be understood that the further the Active Shooter progresses in stages, the more mission focused they become, thus becoming more dangerous to individuals attempting to terminate their objective.
Once the Active Shooter has progressed through the three stages, he will naturally evolve to the Execution stage. This stage will yield a massacre if an immediate and unrelenting opposition does not confront the Active Shooter. This confrontation is intended for law enforcement only. However, the members of society, must culture our mindset. This is done by actively partaking in scenario planning on what actions we must do during an Active Shooter incident. We must be able to compliment law enforcement's response, rather than maintain a reactive mindset. Joint planning of law enforcement with its community, in creating a pre-orchestrated plan will minimize the casualties by an Active Shooter.
In conclusion, understanding characteristic build-ups of an Active Shooter, planning cooperatively and developing a survivalist mindset will eliminate or minimize the effects of an Active Shooter. While training with the National Tactical Officers Association in the Active Shooter Instructor Course, I read a statement that read as follows:
In the past 50 years, no student has been killed in a school fire.
How many have been killed in school shooting (violence) in the past 2 decades?
Every state has mandatory school fire drills.
How many have mandatory active shooter drills?
America's society needs to become proactive and infuse with law enforcement in creating a solid plan, with focus on a survivalist, proactive mindset to defeat the enemy within.
