Over 10k Alabama law enforcement officers have trained for active-shooter situations

Alabama Law Enforcement officers re-enact an active-shooter response. (Photo: Screenshot)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) officials said on Tuesday that two-thirds of the state’s law enforcement officers have been trained in how to respond to active-shooter situations, according to a report by the Decatur Daily.

The total number of officers who have been trained is roughly 10,600, almost double the number that had been trained just two years ago.

The training for Alabama sheriffs deputies and municipal police officers has included computerized simulations that replicate an active-shooter situation taking place in an office setting.

Such training has received increased interest in the wake of numerous active-shooter situations that have taken place around the country, most recently in San Bernardino, California, where radical Islamic terrorists killed 14 American citizens in a social services facility.

“We’re prepared for everything… anything from a ballgame to a Talladega race, anything that’s big, we’re going to have people there,” said ALEA Chief of Staff Hal Taylor.

“Unlike the way it was 10 or 15 years ago, when police officers would just set up a perimeter around an incident or crisis and call in a SWAT team, we can’t do that anymore,” added Col. John Richardson, director of Public Safety. “Time is of the essence and if you look back on it, most active shooter incidents usually last about 12 minutes or less, so we can’t wait for the SWAT team to come in an engage those shooters.”

Incidentally, Taylor said that 12 minutes is also the average amount of time it takes a trained Alabama law enforcement officer to make it to the scene of an active-shooter situation.

That means it has also been important for ALEA to train citizens on how to respond, resulting in 18,000 Alabamians being trained in the state’s “Run, Hide, Fight” program.

“If you can get away from the building, that’s what you want to do,” Taylor said.

ALEA in 2012 produced a six-minute video with broad instructions on how to respond to a shooter in a workplace environment.

“If you are ever to find yourself in an active-shooter event, your survival may depend on whether or not you have a plan,” the narrator says in the video, which can be viewed below. “The plan doesn’t have to be complicated. There are three things you can do that could make a difference: run, hide, fight.”

As Taylor mentioned before, the video encourages people to leave the building if at all possible and alert the authorities. If that is not possible, ALEA encourages people to find a place to hide and barricade themselves in. Then, as a last resort, fight with whatever weapons are readily available, including fire extinguishers, chairs, glass coffee pots or anything with an edge or weight.

(Video below: ALEA simulates a workplace active shooter to illustrate “Run, Hide, Fight”)