Security on campus is a growing topic of conversation in light of recent school violence including the recent Umpqua Community College shooting. Pierce Campus Security is hosting several active shooter training sessions at the Fort Steilacoom and Puyallup campuses to prepare students and faculty for a possible active shooter situation.

Chris MacKersie, Pierce College Director of Safety and Security and Assistant Director of Facilities, led the first of four active shooter training presentations on Wednesday, October 28th. Pierce College members from varying departments filled the Cascade Lecture Room to learn how to respond to an active shooter.

The lecture started with a 20 minute video by the Center For Personal Protection and Safety (CPPS) aptly titled “Shots Fired,” covering the following topics: What it means to be in an active shooter situation; how to respond to an active shooter situation; why it is important to be prepared for an active shooter situation. Randy Spivey, the executive director at the CPPS explains that an active shooter is characterized as one whose intent is to take lives whereas in a hostage situation, the shooter has a goal and will only take lives to achieve that goal.

In an active shooter situation, Spivey and Jim Sporleder, director at CPPS, emphasize the importance of telling yourself, “I will survive.” The training video also tells us that there is no specific profile for an active shooter; this is why it is so important to be aware of what is happening around you and identify any characters that seem suspicious.

The motto for deciding the best course of action during an active shooting event is, “Run, Hide, Fight.” Mackersie also phrased it as, “Get out, Hide out, Take out.” If you cannot escape safely, hide. If you have no place to hide, be prepared to take out the shooter.

When taking any action against the shooter, it is imperative to have absolute resolve and to be willing to do whatever is necessary to survive. Spivey stresses that the similarity between all survivors of traumatic events such as a shooting is a survival mindset.

The video even covered the proper protocol to exercise when reporting an event like an active shooting. It is crucial to remember that law enforcement’s priority is to stop the shooter. It is also critical to be compliant with the responders. If someone is pointing at them or yelling and screaming, law enforcement may perceive this as a threat.The video shares that the information that will be helpful to law enforcement includes the location of the shooter, the number of shooters, a physical description as well as the number and type of weapons. The responders will not help you out, since their only goal is to stop the shooter.

The last training session will be on Wed. Nov. 4 from 5-6:30pm in CAS 421. MacKersie explained that Campus Safety plans to continue the discussion of active shootings in the upcoming winter quarter with seminars and tabletop exercises and in the following spring quarter with a campus-wide functional active shooter exercise. For more information or to watch the training video, please visit the Training and Resources page on the Campus Safety website.