AMU Emergency Management Original Public Safety

Active Shooter Incidents and Mitigating Serious Injuries

By Allison G. S. Knox
Contributor, EDM Digest

In the wake of the increase in active shooter incidents in the United States, lawmakers are seeking to create policies that will actively prevent these incidents, including changes to current gun control measures. These debates will continue for years. While some lawmakers and activist groups consider policies to stop active shooter incidents, others are working to create ways to prevent the loss of life from these incidents.

Some of these concepts include looking into how unarmed security officers can play a role in responding to active shooter scenarios. The Homeland Security Department teaches how to treat serious wounds in its Stop the Bleeding Program.

“Stop the Bleed” is an l awareness campaign that is gaining popularity across the country. It is intended to cultivate grassroots efforts that will encourage civilians to become trained, equipped and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. So if someone is faced with a shooting victim, he or she would be able to help treat the wounds before paramedics and law enforcement could arrive.

Robert Mueck, writing in Domestic Preparedness, reports that the “concept of the Rescue Task Force (RTF) came from the Arlington County (Virginia) Fire Department. Looking at active shooter events around the country, these fire department leaders created a model that enables emergency medical services (EMS) to provide emergency medical intervention faster and within the Incident Command System (ICS) construct.”

One of the latest policy ideas to emerge is a DHS grant system to help train high school students manage severe bleeding. The program is a combination of emergency management mitigation programs and the Stop the Bleed Program. However, this new program will add another dimension to community awareness and response when dealing with an active shooter incident.

According to EMS 1.com, the new grant system will help to educate high school students on how to treat major bleeding.  This program combines what we understand about educating the public on preventative medical measures and emergency management mitigation.

Using Education to Change Outcomes

In the public health field, a large emphasis is placed on educating the public on how to work to correct an issue in society. The rate of incidence of certain diseases such as cancer and diabetes can be reduced as individuals learn more about how to prevent these illnesses. Taking this into account, when it comes to active shooter incidents, educating the public can help save lives.

Unfortunately, active shooter events will not end any time soon. But how the public handles them will set the course of prevention for years to come. To effectively secure schools across the United States, federal, state and municipal budgets need to allocate more money for security. For now, there are no easy ways to deal with active shooter incidents. One possible answer is to better educate the public on how to deal with such serious threats.

Allison G.S. Knox

Allison G. S. Knox teaches in the fire science and emergency management departments at the University. Focusing on emergency management and emergency medical services policy, she often writes and advocates about these issues. Allison works as an Intermittent Emergency Management Specialist in the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. She also serves as the At-Large Director of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, Chancellor of the Southeast Region on the Board of Trustees with Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences, chair of Pi Gamma Mu’s Leadership Development Program and Assistant Editor for the International Journal of Paramedicine. Prior to teaching, Allison worked for a member of Congress in Washington, D.C. and in a Level One trauma center emergency department. She is an emergency medical technician and holds five master’s degrees.

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