"Active" police involvement protects against shooting rampages

Published July 22, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Stacia Zachary
96 Air Base Wing Public Affairs

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- A four-man team assembles outside Bldg. 591, slowly covering ground outside the entrance before storming it and taking down its hostile threat - a crazed man armed with a semi-automatic weapon intent on an office killing spree.

At least that is the scenario the 96th Security Forces Squadron officers, combined with patrolmen from Hurlburt Field and other local law enforcement agencies, were practicing during the Active Shooter Instructor Training Course recently.

With the growing threat of school and office violence, both military and civilian police officers are becoming proactive in their response protocol to such a threat. The Active Shooter class aims at identifies threats and different methods of response as well as tailoring a set of objectives that everyone can activate should the need arise.

"Active Shooter incidents have increased 12-fold mainly due to the availability of information through the Freedom of Information Act and people who use the Internet as their podium to make a statement," said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Burkey, 96 SFS trainer.

Seung-Hui Cho proved to America that an unstable person with a grudge can rivet the nation simply by posting his plan of action on the Internet shootings. After silently killing two people at different locations on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus, the shooter took a slight pause to e-mail clues as to his next target: more than 30 people injured at an education building. But this is a public setting - no chance this could happen in a secure environment, right?

Wrong.

Airman Dean Mellberg walked into the Fairchild AFB, Wash., hospital June 20, 1994, killing four people and wounding 23 others with an assault rifle. He had been sent for a mental health review and deemed unfit for service but those recommendations were not heeded by leadership. The result of that action was a killing spree ending with the Airman being fatally shot by a security forces officer.

A year later, Army Sgt. William Kreutzer, Jr., opened fire Oct. 27, 1995, on a formation of Soldiers from the tree line at Fort Bragg, N.C., killing an officer and injuring 17 others all because an incident with another servicemember two weeks prior went unresolved. It isn't just probable disaster can come to a military installation but history shows it has happened before and is likely to happen again.

"We need to be vigilant and ready to respond to these situations; ultimately that means changing tactics and for us that means constantly training," said Sergeant Burkey. "With more stresses being put on military and civilian alike from deployments and downsizing, the chances of something like this happening here are much greater."

The course has been modified to incorporate continual instructor training as well a building confidence in the protocol. The course has helped the 96th SFS officers increase their numbers of trained personnel from 84 percent to 93 percent - the highest in the Air Force.

"We have a huge turn over here due to deployments and (permanent changes in duty station) or separation," said Sergeant Burkey. "This course allows us to train people from different shifts on the Active Shooter techniques so they can bring the training to the different work sections and shifts. What this means for us is more people trained and a greater availability of response."

The course is being taught by the National Tactical Officer Association which has 30,000 active members. The goal of the training is to have set standards in place so any agency can work cohesively in dire situations.

"If everyone is on the same sheet of music, then the response measure can be better coordinated and any agency can respond with the same results of a well-trained team," said Sgt. Isaac Lopez, Orange County Sherriff's Department and an instructor for the course.

Currently the training is being conducted at Bldg. 591 in the old prison compound - a prime location as the building mimics what a school or office setting would look like should an Active Shooter incident occur.

"Because we can train in an environment that actually reflects where a live scenario would take place, we can more realistically gauge how and what is needed to control the active shooter situation," said Cpl. Steve Hall, Fort Walton Beach Police Department officer.

For the Air Force, as with the local law enforcement agencies, it is important to train as one.

"We've always been told to train as you fight," said Staff Sgt. Season Kelt, 96th SFS officer. "With this training, we can handle (Active Shooter) situations immediately without stopping to ask questions or form a game plan; all of that is already set."