Lee Ayers

Life or Death Situations: Shoot Don't Shoot

Simulation training is an essential educational strategy for law enforcement professionals to improve public safety and reduce officer fatalities. The strength of simulation training includes its suitability for multidisciplinary team training as well as individualized officer readiness for active shooter calls. Responding to an active shooter callout is the most difficult mission assigned to either patrol officers or tactical teams. Active shooter response requires an officer to practice and rehearse a plan ahead of time. Law enforcement officers must be prepared to stop the shooter; a task that requires a high degree of skill. There is also evidence that procedural simulation improves actual operational performance in critical situations. Learning from past practices, what went right, wrong and what can we do better, an examination of the results from school shootings will be presented and discussed. Are the changes in tactics and training saving lives in Active Shoot situations?