By William Watson
Texas Tech Police Lt. Amy Ivey opened active shooter training with her background information before playing 911 audio from the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.
One could hear the fear of the caller and the shots of the shooter as participants were filled with shock and terror.
The Texas Tech Police Department hosted an active shooter training on April 15 in the Traditions Room of the Student Union Building on campus.
Ivey, who has been with the department for seven years, went through a series of presentation slides educating a group of students on how to handle an active shooter situation, how to treat a gunshot wound, and the history of active shooters.
“The first part is a presentation about an hour long,” Ivey said, “where we talk about the history of the active shooters, where we were and where we are at today.”
Ivey followed the slideshow with the acronym ADD: avoid, deny, defend. This involves avoiding the active shooter by moving to a safe area and silencing cell phones, denying armed persons entry, and finally, defending oneself against or overpowering the perpetrator, according to her presentation.
Next, Ivey went into the hands-on portion of the training.
“This is where we’d show you how to make a stack,” Ivey said, “so that way if a shooter comes in the room without you being able to deny him access, we show how to go hands-on to deny the weapon, how to barricade a room (use the chairs and furniture), how to create a stack, and have your most aggressive person up front.”
The final part of the training was applying a tourniquet, a band which officers carry on their belts.
“This is where we come out and teach you how to use the tourniquets,” Ivey said. “So, if you are shot in the arm of the leg, you will know how to put it on in that type of situation.
Marco Martinez, a freshman engineering major from Harlingen, Texas, said it was his first time attending an active shooter training.
“It was a pretty great experience,” Martinez said. “Definitely educational. There was definitely a lot of things I hadn’t really considered just because I’ve never really attended a training before. So, I feel a lot more prepared if the situation were to come.”
Gage De Leon, a freshman psychology major from San Antonio, said he has attended an active shooter training before during a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) lab.
“When lab was dedicated to this,” De Leon said, “we didn’t get the hands-on experience that we did today. So, I understood most tactics used, but I didn’t get to do hands-on stuff until today, and I really enjoyed that. I felt like it helped more than just sitting at a desk and learning it.”
To view TTPDs active shooter training video, click here.
To read more about active shooter prevention tips, click here.
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