Westchester Continues To Strengthen 'Active Shooter' Response Procedures

[x635 4,066]

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- In the wake of Sandy Hook and at least 44 school or college shootings that have occurred nationally since, Westchester County officials have developed comprehensive crisis plans.

County Executive Rob Astorino created a Safer Communities initiative to explore more fully how such incidents might be mitigated and prevented.

http://greenburgh.dailyvoice.com/news/westchester-continues-strengthen-active-shooter-response-procedures

[newsbuff 286]

Put trained, armed staff members in schools. Problem solved

[Jybehofd 85]

This is great to hear and put out there to main stream media. But my concern is ems well because i work in the field, I know they have classes on combat medic and stuff but have they reached out to local als agencies to also meet the new standards that fed has come up with for a response to such an incident. having ems run right in side by side with PD to save more lives?

[PC_420 28]

http://westchester.news12.com/news/shooting-invasion-simulated-at-austin-road-elementary-school-in-mahopac-1.5740896

This was last year in Mahopac

[velcroMedic1987 330]

This is great to hear and put out there to main stream media. But my concern is ems well because i work in the field, I know they have classes on combat medic and stuff but have they reached out to local als agencies to also meet the new standards that fed has come up with for a response to such an incident. having ems run right in side by side with PD to save more lives?

What federal standards are you referring to? Can you share the info?

EMS can contact the PD too. Why wait for them to contact you?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

What federal standards are you referring to? Can you share the info?

I think he means "guidance," its definitely not a standard yet.

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/active_shooter_guide.pdf

[velcroMedic1987 330]

I think he means "guidance," its definitely not a standard yet.

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/active_shooter_guide.pdf

More useless gibberish from the Feds. Do they really need to keep regurgitating ICS and slapping a new title on it?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Well the information that I believe jybehofd was referencing was the development of the "Warm Zone" EMS concept applied to active shooters; where EMTs/Medics will be going in (under armed escort) to collect and evac casualties.

VelcroMedic I know YOU know this, but for the rest of you who don't, please say it with me: That is NOT the same as a Tactical EMS program... (so those of you out there who think we're going to turn all EMS providers into elite SWAT Operators can all cancel your orders for Olive Drab BDU pants and subdued EMT patches... Sorry to disappoint).

ICS is certainly going to be referenced and stressed in the report because if you look at the majority of these incidents, Command and Control is almost always identified as an area of improvement, because the majority of our agencies STILL can't understand the concept of Unified Command and the other central tenants of the system.

Pretty sure we did a thread about that idea a few months back. If someone wants to dig it out we can probably avoid a lot of repetition and postmortem equestrian pugilism...

Edited April 29, 2014 by SageVigiles

[Jybehofd 85]

yes i was referring to the guidance the fed has set forth so to be a standard. http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/active_shooter_guide.pdf

The Maphopac training is alittle more out of a movie with multiple shooters. There has been only once incident that I know of so far that had more then one shooter in a school. And then when both of them were finally engaged they took there own lives. These people who do this aren't looking to have a shot out like in the wild west. They want to do as much damage as they can as fast as they can. And then once engaged they know its over, and the best thing for them to do is to do take there own life. In a way I am grateful they do. Can you imagine what the court case would be like. It would have more media coverage then OJ Simpson. And they might make this person a star without knowing it. I still can't understand why they don't give as much media coverage to events where the shooter was shot dead. Like the shooter in colorado, he shot once or twice and then was engaged by a school armed guard,(i've heard conflicting reports if he was a PO or off duty) but he engaged and the shooter took his life.

do i ever see ems going in "armed" no but maybe with the knowledge on how to make a weapon safe and remove the clip in an active scene if they come across one. i know its a chain of evidence but you don't need someone picking up a live weapon.

personally im not going in im not trained or properly equipt to and have been told im not a first responder too... but thats something else

[SageVigiles 1,194]

The most infamous multi-shooter school incident in the US (Columbine HS) wasn't really meant to be a shooting anyway, the primary means of inflicting casualties was supposed to be explosives. Fortunately the two scumbags responsible were TERRIBLE bomb-makers.

These people animals know they aren't going to win a shootout against armed responders. They're high school/college kids, not high-speed, low-drag operators... As soon as they hear sirens its lights out...

Edited April 29, 2014 by SageVigiles

[firemoose827 324]

How many departments out there have SOP or SOG's written for either active shooter, or domestic violence incidents?

I ask seriously, because our county is in the process of developing a training for these type of incidents and our department was the testing agency for the draft class written by our past chief now county deputy fire coordinator and SFI. It was a great class and it discussed having written policies for these incidents. After the class my chief approached me and asked if I would be willing to write an SOP for our department. I have a draft written and would be interested to see other SOP's that might exist to compare.

Thanks in advance.

[sueg 77]

At some point when you finalize the SOP for your Department, could you post it as an example/reference? We have a Day Crew Monday - Friday 6 AM-6PM, and some of them have taken the Tactical Medic training, and some more may as time goes on, so at least they are gaining some experience on that side and would definitely jump right in to manage the situation if one happens. Warm zone operations need to be prepared to receive/retrieve possible PD first responder victims as well as other responders and civilians, so it is always good to have a plan ready for most possibilities. I am reading what I can on it and hope will properly do what needs to be done if called on. Unfortunately, not enough EMS people took advantage of the in-house Tourniquet/Quik Clot bandaging class and the one held at the hospital, both of which had good hands-on practice, so if anything happens during the volunteer staffing time, it could be hit-or-miss as to the crew and their/our experience with that part. Our Chief tries to be proactive - just has to get the rest, or more of us, in line.

P.S. Sage may not be EMS, but with his training, if he was in town that day, I would absolutely want him with us.

Edited April 29, 2014 by sueg

[Jybehofd 85]

sorry we don't have one and just got quick clot and commercial tourniquets... but the training was a youtube video they sent by email. i heard training cost money

[firemoose827 324]

Sueg, I will gladly post them when they are approved and accepted. They are done now, but just in draft and have not been reviewed by the officers, commissioners and membership yet.

It will be interesting to see the different aspects of different SOP's from different response areas and populations. Like in my area, we are about 3.9 square miles of territory with about 3,000 people (2010 Census). Ours as they stand now before being changed and altered and then approved are about 2 and a half pages. I bet there could be some areas with larger populations and bigger call volumes that probably have triple the amount of pages.

Does anyone have an SOP already written and enforced?