Are you a teacher or student? Would you know what to do in an on-campus shooting situation?
Mark Gordon, chief of police at Oakland University (Rochester, MI), recently spoke to the school’s professors on how to handle and survive an active shooter.
According to a report by Laurel Kraus in the Oakland Post, Gordon offered this advice:
First, differentiate between a hostage situation and an active shooter. In a hostage situation, remain patient and compliant while authorities deal with it. If shots are fired, take appropriate survival strategies.
If it is an active shooter, Gordon recommends three responses:
- Get out. Escape if you can.
- Hide out. If you can’t escape, hide.
- Take out. If you can’t escape or hide, fight back.
These strategies are detailed in our Conversations book, How to Survive an Active Shooter.
Gordon also warned against falling for tricks. For example, if you're hiding in a locked room, don’t open the door to someone claiming to be the police. University police have keys to every room and won't ask you to open the door for them. Also, a shooter may set off a fire alarm to flush people out of a building; don’t react unless you see fire or smoke.
In the article, Gordon was quoted as saying, “We deny ourselves the opportunity to create a plan because we deny the fact that it could happen to us. You cannot create a life-saving strategy during a life-threatening incident.”
What is your school’s plan for protecting students, faculty and staff in an active shooter situation? Find out before it happens.
Update: Here's another article worth reading; it's from the New Ulm Journal: “More tools for cases of school shooting”
Jacquelyn's latest book is Christian Business Almanac: The Ultimate Daily Guide for Kingdom-Driven Entrepreneurs and Leaders.
She is the author of the nonfiction books Simple Facts About Self-Publishing (Second Edition), Words to Work By: 31 devotions for the workplace based on the Book of Proverbs and Finding Joy in the Morning: You can make it through the night as well as the novel Choices (A Joyful Cup Story). With her husband, she is the co-creator of several coloring books for adults and the novelty My Book About series.
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