Active shooter. We hear a lot about active shooters, we hear a lot about failures in stooping active shooters and criticism for law enforcement about their handling of active shooters. There are also cases which are considered as successful handling of active shooters, many times by armed civilians who has saved the day. But the tragedies are the cases we hear about most. But not every case of a murdered with a gun is an active shooter, not each terrorist attack is an active shooter, and the handling of an active shooter should be dependent on the doings of the bad guy. I will explain. An active shooter could be a single attacker or several attackers operating simultaneously, and are involved in the on going seeking and killing of any potential victim they come across. As long as they have potential victims, he/they do not cease from their attack, they will move from one area to another in the search for additional victims. As long as this process last, we are talking about an active shooter. The only solution to remove the threat for all potential victims and to stop the attack is to put an end to the attackers. as soon as we neutralize the attackers we will stop the killing of innocent victims. and delay in stooping the attack will lead to more causalities- either wounded will die from their injuries or new causalities will be created by the attackers. This kind of an attack could be happening with a rifle/pistol, grenades, cold weapon etc. The attackers could carry a suicide vest on them, but if they only have a suicide vest, without weapons, than it is not an active shooter- but a suicide bomber. The attackers continue their active attack until they stop or stopped. When do they stop? they mental driven attackers, are either get tired (physically or mentally) and reduce their speed. They might be in a class room with bleeding students, but they will not actively kill them all- they got their mental drive to kill filled and now they just wait. to be killed by the police or thinking what to do, or collecting courage to kill themselves. For some attackers, the arrival of the police or security forces will change their plans. they will either try to escape or barricade themselves. These last two examples are not active shooters, but barricaded attacker or hostage situation. If some time into the barricaded / hostage situation we will hear shooting in the room than the situation is active shooter again. The distinction is quite simple- noise (of hurting other people), than its an active shooter. Quite- than it is a hostage/barricaded attacker. For a hostage situation or barricaded suspect the solution is simple- will be handled by a specialized unit which is capable, trusted and equipped for hostage rescue situations. These units will usually arrive and deploy after the active killing part of the situation is already finished. The exception to this situation is in the case that the attacker has resumed his killing- we hear the shooting from the location of the attacker. How do they react and how much talking they do with him is depended on the situation on the ground.
(in this video: Motorcycle fast response unit respond to active shooter, the driver (officer, Amir Huri, was shoot, collapsed and died in the scene, minutes after the shooting) What about an active shooter? most cases this will be handled by first responders, either law enforcement or civilian. From low enforcement we expect to eliminate the threat as soon as they can with minimal care to their safety and with clear altruism to save the civilians which are getting harmed. This perspective is the Israeli perspective, which could be different in European and American societies. What Israeli law enforcement are required to do is to make immediate physical contact with the active attacker, at maximum speed possible. This contact initiative is crucial for stopping the attack. Second requirement is to be extremely responsible for your bullets, it is unthinkable to respond to a terror attack and create collateral damage לינק שוטר אמריקאי יורה ללא אבחנה
Watch timeline 2:33- officer shooting blindly in the general direction of attacker, and from 5:41 the closed door riddled with bullet holes- Shooting at a closed door without line of sight at the attacker Sometimes the speed in which the Israeli law enforcement respond will cost them their lives, but we see law enforcement get hit in greater numbers in other countries. The majority of law enforcement responses in Israel are extremely successful. The crucial point is to differentiate between active shooter (noisy) and hostage/barricaded situations (quite). The tactics employed in each of these situations are different and aimed at different results. Active and fast response to active shooters was given by unarmed civilians
unarmed civilians
Police officers, fast response police units and specialized security agents deployed in strategic locations- like air ports.
Jerusalem. First responders rush into a bus to stop a terror attack inside a bus.
The following video is taken from the helmet cam of a responding officer to a terror attack in a Jerusalem synagogue, upon arrival the he goes into the building into scans after any further possible terrorists, he is not waiting for backup or the other officers to follow, he is implementing the contact initiative procedure to stop the attack (News report, Israel):
This system was set in place in the early 70's and was successfully implemented in El Al, foreign office and multiple other governmental organisations, and had gradually diffused to the police and the society.
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