Bucks County Sheriff Gives Active Shooter Training in Falls Twp.
By Alex Lloyd Gross
Bucks County Sheriff Milt Warrell has been going around to businesses providing active shooter training. On Wednesday night he brought the training to the general public at the Falls Township Municipal Building.
“The things you should remember are run if you can, get yourself out of the area, if you have to jump out the window, do it, as soon as you hear gunshots or hear about them,” he said, adding leave your belongings behind.
“Do not all hide in a group. If everyone is hiding in a closet, it’s a turkey shoot. Spread out in the room and distract the shooter. Barricade the door, with furniture, or belts wrapped around the door in such a way it makes it difficult to open, Warrell said.
The third thing you should do is fight, As a last resort and the gunman has confronted you. This may end in your death, This may end the shooting incident. Those were the three things Warrell told the small crowd in attendance. “This can happen anywhere”.
At work, someone does not get a promotion or a raise. Maybe they get fired. In their mind they were the most important person in the company. They come back to kill people. Maybe it’s a customer who was slighted. Or perhaps it was someone that got bullied one time too many in school. According to FBI statistics, 97 percent of all active shooters are males.
While Columbine High School took almost one hour, most active shooter incidents last about five minutes. Police were trained to wait outside until more officers arrived. “That has changed. Now a single officer will go in and engage the suspect”, Warrell said. Most schools in this region use a training module called ALICE. This module is used in government buildings and private sector businesses as well, Warrell further stated.
Notification networks were discussed. Surprisingly, not every school district in Bucks County uses the same notification system. Warrell talked about some of the previous active shooter events and let lose an interesting tidbit. The Batman movie theater shooting happened when the shooter did reconnaissance and chose that theater because it was a “Gun Free Zone.” According to the Sheriff, “He did not want anyone firing back at him, he wanted to do all of the shooting”,
Throughout the slideshow, the audience for the training took photos of the presentation of the slides. One thing the sheriff said was “if you are ever in an active shooter incident, call 911 . Don’t pull your phone out to record and try to get footage of what is going on.”
Warrell also added as a general principle parents should teach their children to be more aware of their surroundings at all times. Stay off the cell phone.
The Sheriff’s next public training will be next month in Newtown. He is going to go to visit as many communities as possible he said, saying additional training’s will be announced in the coming future.