Action Beats Reaction
Active shooter alert, proceed with due caution, act decisively!
You received the call of an active shooter, but how will you respond? Lights and siren, Code 3, of course, but should you keep your siren on all the way to the scene? Good question.
Your first responsibility in responding to an active shooter is to prevent or stop the killing. Letting the suspect(s) hear a police siren may cause the assailant(s) to flee the scene, such as in the case of a domestic dispute where the shooting may have resulted from an argument. When a shooting is planned, however, the suspect might be in it for the long haul. He or she might want to take out any cops who respond, or may want to commit “suicide by cop.” In either case, turning off the siren a half-block or so from the scene and deploying just out of view of the location might be prudent. Under no circumstance should the officer front deploy at the scene.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:03 am
[…] SWAT talk action always beats reaction, but act with due caution […]