Some would argue that notifying a “trained” passer-by who may be the closest responder is saving valuable time. While this may be beneficial for getting trained bystanders to the side of an individual in cardiac arrest, the facts show quite the opposite for a rapidly-evolving and violent incident.
From a 2012 shooting of an officer by another off-duty officer in New York who had self-dispatched based on an overheard radio transmission, to an overwhelming number of armed “strangers” flooding the Sandy Hook area long after the shooting was over, an uncoordinated response by armed individuals, even when trained, is dangerous.
“If you have people self-dispatching who are not in uniform, you increase the risk of blue-on-blue shootings, and you end up with more people calling the police to report that they saw someone with a gun, which can add to the confusion,” said Howard County (Maryland) Police Chief William J. McMahon when providing lessons learned on the January 2014 Columbia Mall Shooting.
Furthermore, unaffiliated responders are normally not familiar with the location or specific procedures of the facility and can be easily mistaken by those in the school or outside of it as an assailant. According to the Director of the Office of Unified Communications in Washington, D.C., Jennifer Greene: “While luckily no one was killed as a direct result of self-dispatch during the Navy Yard Shootings, it definitely added an extra dimension of risk and overhead to the entire response as we attempted to identify and manage unknown armed individuals that were on scene.”
3. Custom Processes Introduce Risk
In an emergency, people tend toward what they know and are familiar with doing. This is the same for both people in an emergency and those answering their calls for help.
The implications for an active shooter situation are twofold. First, remember that many people will call 9-1-1 for help. It is ingrained. Second, keep in mind that a single PSAP may support many schools. If each creates a custom process, the chance for error is high because it is rarely used. Any solution put into operation should be as much a part of daily operations as possible.
Expecting a 9-1-1 dispatcher to remember to do something different for each school in a large area is adding risk. Where-ever possible, ensure existing dispatch and call-taking procedures are leveraged. Where custom workflows are needed, make sure they are consistent for 9-1-1 and responders across a region as much as possible.
9-1-1 is a critical component of an effective active shooter response plan. When working together as a team, 9-1-1, responders and school administrators can create solutions that improve reaction time to incidents and reduce complexity by creating consistent processes used by responding agencies. It is strongly encouraged that school administrators coordinate with local PSAPs and public safety agencies while developing a holistic school safety plan.
Ty Wooten, ENP, Director of Education and PSAP Operations at NENA and Maureen Will, RPL, Director of Emergency Communications at Town of Newtown, CT.