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Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events

  • Disaster Response – How do people respond to disasters and high stress events.
    • There are three stages
      1. Denial
        1. You must move past this stage very quickly.
      2. Deliberation
        1. Process information and decide what to do.
          • Having a prior plan will help.
            • Mental script and practice
        2. Try to stay calm.
          • Willpower
          • Combat breathing
          • Shift your emotion
          • Stay fit
      3. Decisive Moment
        1. You must act quickly!
  • Active Shooter Events
    • Active shooter as defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is an individual actively engaged in killing, or the attempt to kill, people in a confined and populated area.
    • The “Shooter”
      • No set profile
      • Typically an avenger mindset
      • Some broadcast of event
      • Approximately a 50% chance they are connected to the place the event occurs.
    • Location
      • Occur at places of commerce over 50% of the time.
      • Schools represent about 25%, even though these events are often thought of as a school-based event.
    • Number of Deaths
      • Two driving factors
        1. How quickly do police respond and confront the attacker.
          • On average it will take law enforcement at least 3 minutes to respond.
        2. How quickly can the attacker locate and target potential victims.
          • Crowded room vs. empty room
  • Civilian Response
    • Move past Denial to Deliberation as quickly as possible.
      • Don’t deny that what you’re hearing may be gunshots.
      • Do not “Hide & Hope” or play dead, these are not effective strategies.
    • Deliberation
      • Avoid the situation ASAP
        • Be aware of your surroundings
        • Know your exit options
        • Call 911
      • Deny access to your location
        • Lock the door and barricade it.
          • The heavier the better, doorstops, etc.
        • Turn out the lights.
        • Get out of sight.
      • Defend yourself if necessary
        • You have a legal right to defend yourself when someone is trying to hurt or kill you.
        • Fight hard, your and other’s lives will depend on it.
        • If possible, position yourself where you can surprise the attacker.
        • If you have a weapon use it. If not, grab the attacker’s weapon or hands.
          • Hands are dangerous
          • You are not helpless!
          • What you do matters!
  • When the Police arrive
    • Follow commands.
    • Show your empty hands.
    • Do not move until told to do so.


Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC)

Why is this training needed? During and immediately after every mass-trauma event the civilian population regularly brings up two items:

  1. Those that want to help don’t have the training to help.
  2. Those that have the training to help don’t have the equipment to help.

Class Agenda

Until Help Arrives:

  • You Make a Difference
    • Steps you can take when responding to a life-threatening situation
    • Different reactions you may have in a stressful situation
    • Importance of practice and rehearsal to improve your response to a life-threatening situation

Stop the bleeding:

  • Recognize life-threatening bleeding
    • Steps to control bleeding
    • Apply steady pressure
    • Tourniquets
    • Chest seals
    • Wound packing

Bleeding Control/Mass Trauma Kits

If you want to build better relationships with all of your students, take a minute to look at our Culturally Responsive Teaching series on PD Bites.

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) will be holding focus groups in September in preparation for revising the rules governing educator preparation programs, both traditional and alternative, in instructional license areas (e.g. elementary, secondary, special education...).

Focus groups will be held in the evenings to help facilitate teacher participation.  Most of the meetings will be at the USBE office in downtown Salt Lake City. Funding for mileage and substitute teachers will be available to participants that are required to travel more than 50 miles for the meeting.  More details will be provided to participants. The makeup of each focus group will be primarily centered on one or two specific license areas. In order to be selected for a particular focus group, an individual must meet the specific criteria for that focus group.

In order to simplify the process for selecting participants, please complete the survey if you are interested in participating. The survey will remain open until 5:00 p.m. Monday, August 27.

The dates and times of the focus groups are:

  • School Principals and Assistant Principals; 5 -7 p.m. Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at USBE (note: the topic is teacher preparation)
  • Early Childhood Education and Elementary; 5 -7 p.m. Thursday, September 20, 2018 at USBE
  • Special Education (early childhood and K-12) and Deaf Education; 5 -7 p.m. Friday, September 21, 2018 at USBE
  • First-year teachers only (any license area); 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, September 25, 2018 at USBE
  • Secondary and CTE; 5 -7 p.m. Thursday, September 26, 2018 at USBE
  • First-year teachers only (any license area); 4 -6 p.m. Friday September 28, 2018 at Nebo School District

Take a look at the Aug. 2018 issue of the Be Well newsletter, provided by EMI Health. The theme for the month is "Embrace Variety."  Stories include:

  • Give your lunch a makeover
  • Why diversify exercise?
  • Exercise and personality
  • Checkup time
  • Vaccines for preteens and teens
  • Do you like change?
  • Q: Anxiety or panic?
  • Stretch your entertainment dollars
  • 6ways to save on flights
  • Mystery weight gain

Aug. 2018 Be Well Volume 38, Number 8 PDF