DPS Trains Civilians How to Survive During Active Shooter Incidents

SAN ANGELO TX — In the wake of Sutherland Springs, the latest in a long string of mass-casualty events involving an active shooter or shooters, Region 4 DPS offers active shooter preparedness training to companies, churches, and organizations who ask for it at no charge.

Sgt. Justin Baker of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Highway Patrol introduced Civilian Response to Active Shooter Event (C.R.A.S.E.) training on-site at LIVE! Headquarters.

C.R.A.S.E training instructs businesses and other institutions how to best respond to an active shooter situation should one occur at the job site.

Per Sgt. Baker, “The average law enforcement response time is 3 minutes. Training is built around survival until help arrives.”

“The training purposefully takes place at the job site so that scenarios are true for the establishment—where exits are located, how to secure a room and barricade inside, and how to best escape an active threat.”

The presentation included a review of the Columbine High School slaughter from 1999. It was chilling, to say the least, but insightful to hear the actual 9-1-1 calls and the gunfire in the background, and to know what happened inside the high school that may not have been previously known.

“The Columbine incident redefined protocol for law enforcement,” said Baker, “and over the years we’ve seen response times shorten and the capabilities of law enforcement increase.”

Several videos of actual events were used to instruct on the dos and don’ts of safely escaping an incident, and there is shocking testimony from those who actually experienced the event.  

Baker also showed studies correlating the increased occurrences of mass-casualty events as social media gained wider-spread acceptance over the past 10 years. The perpetrators of these types events are motivated by the immediate feedback social media offers.

“We don’t say the names of the shooter. We refer to them in other ways. We don’t want to bring attention to them, but concentrate on the victims and the real heroes. Social media moves stories along so quickly that law enforcement has trouble staying in front of the story.”

The mentality of “it could never happen here” is outdated and dangerous.

Sgt. Baker is certified to deliver this training in Tom Green County and surrounding areas to businesses and organizations free of charge. For more information and to schedule training contact Sgt. Justin Baker at (325) 223-6821, or (325) 315-2362.