Written by Greg Ellifritz
There have been remarkably few definitive references written about Active Shooter incidents. There have been numerous books that describe particular incidents, but there aren’t many that tie all the trends together and present viable guidelines for responders.
Fortunately, a recently published book is filling in some of the gaps. I just finished Active Shooter Events and Response (written by Blair, Nichols, Burns, and Curnutt) and was pleasantly surprised.
From the authors’ description of the book:
“Active Shooter Events and Response is one of the first attempts to not only discuss historic active shooter events, but also to actually dissect some of them—empowering law enforcement professionals by leveraging the essential knowledge and experience of those who have gone before us. The book also offers insight into the training methodologies and strategies used to prepare our nation’s first responders to address the active shooter threat. In addition, the authors discuss the clear and present threat of terrorist organizations using these mass shooter tactics on American soil—similar to the attacks in Beslan, Russia and Mumbai, India.
Written by members of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University, this book is the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of training and research into active shooter events and represents state-of-the-art, evidence-based best practices.”
The authors studied hundreds of active shooter events in the United States and provide response recommendations based on their research. While I don’t agree with all of the recommendations (primarily the idea of “team” responses), the overall value of the book is high.
The authors discuss several ideas that I haven’t seen in any other available books. Topics such as breaching, tactical medicine, containment of mobile killers, and movement to the shooting site are all discussed.
If you have an interest in active shooter events or are looking for training guidance for your police department, this is a must-have book. It’s not cheap, but I think it’s one of the best books currently available on the topic.
Active Shooter Events and Response is available at Amazon.com
