April 20, 1999 at approximately 11:20 AM, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School in Columbine Colorado and began a massacre in which 12 students and 1 teacher were killed along with 21 injured. Police Tactics of the time had the responding officers secure the perimeter of the building and wait for SWAT, which is exactly what they did. SWAT cleared the building and found the bodies of the perpetrators at approximately 3:30 PM.
Fast forward 16 years to October 01, 2015, Roseburg Oregon, Umpqua Community College. At approximately 10:38 AM, Christopher Harper-Mercer entered Snyder Hall and began to massacre students and faculty, killing 8 students and 1 teacher. At 10:44 AM, six minutes later, two plain clothes officers from Roseburg Police Department entered Snyder Hall and became engaged in a gunfight. The entire incident lasted approximately 8 minutes.
So what was the difference? Rapid Response Active Shooter Training is what made the difference! Rapid Response Training empowers the first responders to enter a crisis site and stop the killing of innocent people long before a Tactical Team can be assembled.
At the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, we are dedicated to empowering the State of Georgia’s first responders with the skills and ability to combat the most dedicated murderers through training such as Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, also known as A.L.E.R.R.T. We use an actual school building, house, store, gas station and motel to give hands on, real time, force on force training in the actual environment the officers will respond. Our goal is to make the training as realistic as the incident will be in the real world, pushing students to their limits.
Check out the online Atlantic magazine documentary featuring this training.
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/426558/active-shooter/