Active shooter training open to all

Active shooter training isn’t just about school safety. It’s for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about how to protect themselves in a dangerous situation.

For this reason, Crook County Sheriff’s Office offers its Critical Incident Response Training to any interested member of the public and will be hosting sessions in each of the four municipalities in the coming weeks.

The events are open to anyone and will begin in Sundance on September 12, starting at 4 p.m. and expected to last for between three and four hours.

Dates for Hulett, Moorcroft and Pine Haven have not yet been finalized, but Sheriff Jeff Hodge anticipates they will take place in October.

While this kind of skills training is often associated with schools and the community may have been aware of or witnessed sessions and exercises taking place on campus over the last few years, Hodge wants to increase public awareness of the fact that an emergency can happen at any time, and could take place almost anywhere.

Any time you go out, whether to the mall, airport, movie theater, church, supermarket, large event or to any other public destination, he says, your safety is never guaranteed.

“You never know when something is going to happen and when those skills need to be used,” Hodge says.

It’s a life skill, he explains. The kids who are taught it in school carry it with them as they go forward into college and then work, and the Sheriff’s Office aims to ensure that adults have the same opportunity.

Active shooter events have been on the rise in recent years, though not necessarily in this area. That’s not a reason to be complacent, Hodge says.

For example, according to reports from South Dakota news sources, a 42-year-old man from Washington State who is believed to be on his way to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was arrested during a traffic stop with guns, body armor, bomb-making material, a device believed to be a pipe bomb and a manifesto titled, “Descent into the Rational Justification for Genocide”.

The Critical Incident Response Training that will be offered on September 12 is a little different to ALICE Training®, which has been taught to community groups and in the schools for several years and stands for “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate”.

The Sheriff’s Office has moved away from this proprietary curriculum, which costs significantly more than it did in the past, due to the financial considerations.

“We did not want to start charging people to give them skills that could save their life,” Hodge says.

As a public safety organization, the Sheriff’s Office is not willing to charge people money to give them ideas on how to save their own lives.

“It’s our responsibility to provide that information and to give people that opportunity,” Hodge says.

Keen to make sure that the training could still continue, Hodge pushed for the Sheriff’s Office to create its own program. This made it possible to adapt the training to be even more locally focused while including certain priorities that had not been possible before because the ALICE curriculum is fixed.

For instance, the training always included the concept of evacuation, says Hodge, but doesn’t actually teach you how to do it. While running away might sound pretty simple, it’s easier than you might think to do it wrong.

Critical Incident Response Training includes information about how to “tactically evacuate.” In other words, instead of blindly running into a hallway or a field, you need to stop, pause and look, he says.

“We teach them techniques to use so they’re not putting themselves in danger and to look and make sure that it’s safe,” says Hodge.

On the “counter” end of things, which essentially involves fighting back, the training has always taught that, when all else fails and your life is on the line, “It’s either you or the person trying to kill you, so you need to fight for your life.”

Critical Incident Response Training adds a little to this aspect of the training so that it’s not just about interrupting the attacker’s ability to accurately shoot.

“We’ve also incorporated actual fighting technique – places to hit, things to use and things of that nature – to give people a few more ideas on how to take somebody on, especially if you’re by yourself,” he says.

Even if you’ve taken ALICE training with the Sheriff’s Office before, Hodge encourages you to consider attending. Aside from the new aspects that have been added to the curriculum, he says, a refresher is never a bad idea.

If you are less physically able, please do not feel you cannot participate. You will be able to opt out of the practical aspect of the class but still observe as the concepts are put into action.

Critical Incident Response Training will be hosted by Deputy Ed Robinson and Deputy Jory Tadlock. For further information, or to reserve a spot, contact the Crook County Sheriff’s Office at 283-1225.