INCREASED SURVIVAL

SPRINGDALE POLICE OFFER CLASSES TO PROVIDE PROTECTION FROM SHOOTER

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, 1998. Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo., 1999. Virginia Tech, 2007. Sandy Hook (N.J.) Elementary School, 2012.

“We’re not here to scare you,” said Sgt. Robert Sanchez of the Springdale Police Department. “We just want you to know violence exists.

“An active shooter? Can it happen here?”

Sorority house hostage situation, University of Arkansas, 1981. Takeover of Rogers Police Department, 1984. Shooting during worship, United Pentecostal Church, Springdale, 1994. Shooting of UA professor, 2000. Shooting, La Quinta, Springdale, 2008. Stabbing, Hispanic mechanic’s shop, 2013.

“Those people (who would do this) live in our cities,” Sanchez said. “They are our neighbors. They’re out there, I promise.”

Sanchez and SPD Cpl. Mike Hignite offer free classes several times each month to help the people of Springdale survive an attack on their places of business.The classes are based on the ALICE system created by a company named Response Options.

ALICE is the acronym for the suggested steps to survive such an incident. Sanchez explained: A - Alert, L -Lockdown, I - Inform, C - Counter, E - Evacuate.

The steps of ALICE do not have to be followed in order; neither must all of them be taken. “Use them at the most appropriate time,” Hignite said. “These incidents are flexible, ever-changing.”

Injuries or casualties in such an incident usually start within one minute of the intruder’s arrival, Sanchez said, and a shooter fires every 15 seconds. The average shooting time lasts seven minutes.

“He can shoot lots of people in five or six minutes,” Sanchez continued. “Time equals lives. What are you going to do for those few minutes?”

Hignite began researching survival in institutional shootings during his tenure as a school resource officer for the police department. Unfortunately, places where many people gather - often public institutions like schools, government buildings or stores, offices, restaurants - present a much more appealing target for one set on spreading tragedy, he said.

“When does a shooting start?” Sanchez continued. “When the suspect shows up? If we could go back one step … If we can stop it before it happens, we will all be better oft .”

If an armed intruder enters a building, most people respond by hiding - as they have been told, Hignite said. “But your chances of survival go up if you’re proactive.

“None of what we’re telling you is 100 percent,” he said. “Our whole purpose is to increase your chances.”

Life, Pages 7 on 05/01/2013