By Chris Bavender
From Pulse Nightclub in Orlando to Sandy Hook Elementary School, it seems mass shootings are happening more frequently.
How to bridge the gap between the time a violent event starts and when law enforcement arrives is the goal of the ALICE Training Institute’s Active Shooter Response Training Instructor Course coming to Zionsville this month.
The course, set for Aug. 29 and 30 at the Zionsville Fire Department Station 93 and hosted by the Zionsville Police Dept., is designed to teach law enforcement, as well as school, church, hospital and workplace administrators and employees skills and strategies to use in active shooter situations.
“Violent intruder events are, for the most part, very quick incidents that take place from start to finish in a matter of minutes. Often times, they are over before law enforcement arrives on the scene,” ZPD officer Tessa Potts said. “ALICE Training is a research-based, proactive approach to responding to an active shooter situation which authorizes and empowers those engaged in such an event to utilize existing building infrastructure, technology and human action to increase their chance of survival.”
ALICE – which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate – is designed to supplement current “Lock-down” or “Secure-in-Place” procedures used frequently in public schools and institutions.
“Tragic, historic events have dictated the need of enhanced response options to increase chances of surviving a horrific event,” Potts said. “In my opinion, this training is a necessity for the world we live in. We teach the small kids to ‘be prepared, not scared.’ That same philosophy applies to adults.”
Potts said participants will come away with sense of confidence in what they have learned and experience that what is being taught does work.
“Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing,’” Potts said. “There are no ‘do overs’ in an event like what we are training for. You are either prepared to try to save your life and the life of those around you or you are not.”
The two-day course is $595 per person. For more, or to register, visit www.AliceTraining.com, or call 330-661-0106.
