Lessons from the SWAT Conference

The Texas Tactical Police Officers Association 2009 Conference was held in Dallas this year, and it covered material of interest to everyone concerned about community safety, as well as addressing tactics and techniques for law enforcement personnel. The greatest concern centered on the rise of active shooters.

"Active shooters" is what the police call sociopaths who actively hunt and attack people. Their motive is not theft or monetary gain, but carnage and notoriety. We talk about active shooters in the context of school shootings, but recently churches and businesses have been targeted. The thing about active shooters: they are prepared, and are getting more prepared; as each one eventually fails and dies, the details in the news provide the next wannabe Columbine killer with another item on his checklist. "Secure external doors." Cho learned that and employed it at Virginia Tech, and who knows what the next sociopath will learn from the recent spate of shootings.

For police, this means that they need to be ready to respond instantly to a report of an active shooter. There's no time to wait for backup or even some three-man minimum team when a weasel is ravaging the henhouse. The need for officers to have "call-out" gear suitable to facing a rifle-armed, fortified opponent is all too clear.

For citizens, this means realizing that "instantly" for police means 1) after they receive a call, 2) get dispatched to the area, 3) arrive and confirm something is happening (gunshots will usually do the trick), 4) pick an entry point and move tactically to it, 5) coordinate with dispatch and get at least one more person with them, and 6) start to assault. If the doors are chained shut, add some more time. In any event, help can't arrive in time to stop most of the killing.

Or can it? It can if you can help yourself.

In a recent church shooting, a parishioner stepped out from her pew and stopped an active shooter who was bent on decimating her congregation. The handiest person with the will to resist is the best defense against active shooters, terrorists, and other violent criminals.

The lesson the SWAT officers learned was clear: be prepared. It's a good one for us, too.