What are you doing to evaluate your active shooter plans?

[gafftaper]

Bataclan, Pulse, Manchester Arena, Aurora Colorado, Reina in Istanbul, and now Vegas. Once again there has been a mass shooting in one of OUR spaces. While others debate what can and can't be done on a national level, the question is what can we do in our own spaces right now to make them safer?

I manage a high school PAC. Next week I'm getting together with the other two PAC managers in our district and a local police officer to discuss the district emergency policies, strategies from our local police department, and ideas from the article in Protocol below. We will be working on formulating the best plans we can come up with to keep our facilities safer. I'll be posting my thoughts after that meeting next week.

Do you have ideas on how to keep us safer? Please share them here.

@ruinexplorer posted this great article written by one of the lead people at the Event Safety Alliance and published in Protocol. If you haven't read it, please do. Unfortunately it's not very encouraging. But it is a strong dose of reality. Protocol_Summer2016_RunHideFight.pdf

 

[MRW Lights]

We have annual active shooter training at our facility for all staff members as well as around the clock visible security. I'd like to think that my venue is in a "nicer" area of NYC where those kinds of things don't happen... but the truth is it can happen anywhere and it's happening more frequently.

Here in NYC all public assembly facilities are required to file emergency action plans with the city for evacuation, internal threats and natural disasters. Even if your municipality doesn't require you to submit plans I am 100% for having them. It's not a question of IF we need them, but a question of what we do WHEN we need them. Hopefully the answer is we never need them and it will be the most useless piece of knowledge we obtain... but then again if it was useless we wouldn't need to know it...

 

[ruinexplorer]

I truly hope that we start seeing more people who are in charge that have actively been trained as venue managers and have specific training in keeping our venues safe. The International Alliance of Venue Managers specifically has a training program for venue safety. And as is the protocol for all risk assessments, that manager should be having follow up training on a regular basis.

 

[What Rigger?]

Having a meeting tomorrow where that topic will be brought up.

 

[gafftaper]

So I met today with the other theater managers and a police officer. Our district has adopted the "A.L.I.C.E." training program.
A= Alert (be aware)
L= Lock Down (secure your space as much as possible)
I= Inform (Notify the police and administration)
C= Counter (Is there a way to fight back? Protect yourself)
E= Evacuate

So it's similar but a little different from the "Run, Hide, Fight" strategy that others are using. Also when you consider the school environment, it makes a little more sense. I'm not sure that the first step of having 1,500 kids all start running off campus is the best solution. Right? However if the shooter is inside the theater "run, hide, fight" is the strategy that makes the most sense. The officer pointed out that the truth is in situations where the first reaction is a group of people in the crowd attacking the shooter, body counts are extremely low. So in some situations the best solution is just "Fight". However, you can't count on what you will do in the situation let alone what the audience will do. So planning for "fight" is a bad choice. "Run, Hide, Fight" makes a lot more sense.

We talked a lot about saving yourself vs. protecting those in the theater. The officer stressed that it is not a job requirement to risk our lives for people in the theater. Since it's a school, we may feel compelled to try to protect students but in the moment we may also decide to run for our lives. Either option is fine. There's no wrong choice in these situations.

We talked a lot about ways to get the crew and people backstage out safely if a shooter was in the house, which in our spaces seems fairly easy to do. But unfortunately, this means leaving the people in the house to fend for themselves. About the only thing I can come up with to do to help the house would be to make some sort of an announcement to fight back, but this would mean making the booth a target and giving up precious seconds to get my crew out safely. So clearly it's a decision that can only be made in the moment.

If there was a shooter nearby on campus but not in the theater we talked about not just locking the doors but finding ways to secure them beyond just the lock. For example use a belt or rope to tie the doors (or the door closers up above) together to make it harder to get in. Perhaps having some sort of a chain nearby with hooks in the door making it easier to permanently secure the doors from the inside. Screens to cover glass windows backstage. Also the officer made the point that if you are in a lock down situation it's very important to call 911 and tell the police that you have 400 people safely secured in the theater. This will help them as they are clearing the facility.

As for the next steps, I'm going to follow up with a police officer in my own theater. We will talk about more specific plans for my space. From there I will put together a more detailed plan for how to deal with a shooter emergency. The plan will include discussion of evacuation routes, thoughts on how to make the theater more secure to shelter inside, thoughts on ways to fight back (stage weights anyone?), plans for what to do if you have 400 agitated non-english speaking adults in a theater and you want to keep them calm and locked down inside, plans for a meet up location for the crew a safe distance away from the theater, and more. Once those plans are complete I will be having staff meetings to train everyone in what we want them to do.


Please share your thoughts and plans here. If something I have said either does or doesn't sound good, please respond and say why. I want to hear what you think. What can we all do to stay safer? Without a drastic change in policy, this is a reality we have to live in for the foreseeable future. The most important thing we can do is plan our courses of action. The more of these conversations we have, the more we plan, the better prepared we will be mentally if the situation ever does arise.

 

[TheaterEd]

We, as a school district will be going through ALICE training next week. I'll let you all know if something new comes up.

 

[StradivariusBone]

If there was a shooter nearby on campus but not in the theater we talked about not just locking the doors but finding ways to secure them beyond just the lock.

My favorite way of doing this is with a drywall screw. In most doors you can hand drive a screw in between the door and the frame and it won't budge. I use this trick to store door flats, but I also used it to brace my front door during the hurricane.

We talked a lot about ways to get the crew and people backstage out safely if a shooter was in the house, which in our spaces seems fairly easy to do. But unfortunately, this means leaving the people in the house to fend for themselves.

I'm a HS TD too and my priority is my kids getting out. I perpetually tell them that their only responsibility is their own safety. If they are able to leave a mic unmuted or flip the house to full on their way out then do it, but don't jeopardize your own safety for that. The reality is that the likelihood of being in this sort of situation is not high enough to justify any actual training beyond what run-hide-fight says. To me, Vegas proved that where there's a will there's a way. I don't think any of us who have never been in that sort of situation can predict how we'll react if the worst should happen.

Now that's not to say that preparation is pointless, but whether the building's on fire or someone's shooting my kids' only job is to get out and stay out.

 

[edifi]

I'm interested in this thread. When we have a lock down - two real ones in the past four years and drills, I take my students into the theater because my classroom has large plate glass windows and a glass door. However, there are 14 doors into the theater, all of which are routinely left unlocked. It takes some time to lock them all. I'd welcome suggestions on this.

 

[TheaterEd]

I'm interested in this thread. When we have a lock down - two real ones in the past four years and drills, I take my students into the theater because my classroom has large plate glass windows and a glass door. However, there are 14 doors into the theater, all of which are routinely left unlocked. It takes some time to lock them all. I'd welcome suggestions on this.

We have 4 class periods a day. At least once a period I do a lap to check my doors. It seems excessive, but I generally find one a day that has been left unlocked at some point. It's a constant struggle. Additionally, my current plan has my class going to a dressing room so I only have to really worry about one door. BUT if there are students in the cafeteria, they get herded into the aud and seated in the mezzanine. To me, this seems dumb since that is generally the largest group of people (about 350 kids per lunch) and the most likely target. Personally, I think they should scatter throughout the building / evacuate rather than all herd in the same direction towards a room with 7 entrances. I intend to bring that up next week.

 

[emathews]

Following this post. We had a gunman in our town yesterday. Locked down 3 K-12 schools, including the one where the performing arts space that I am TD of is located, locked down 2 pre-schools, required 3 other schools to shelter in place, and neighborhoods within about 1 mile diameter of where the shooter was to shelter in place. We are a brand new space and there are so many things that need our attention that when I raised my safety protocol concerns to the principal he put it on the back burner. I have a feeling it will now get addressed sooner. As a note: our PD and surrounding town PDs did an amazing job of capturing the gunman after 4.5 hours without any injuries.

 

[gafftaper]

I'm interested in this thread. When we have a lock down - two real ones in the past four years and drills, I take my students into the theater because my classroom has large plate glass windows and a glass door. However, there are 14 doors into the theater, all of which are routinely left unlocked. It takes some time to lock them all. I'd welcome suggestions on this.

Keeping a high school theater secure is difficult and one of the most important things we can do. There are SO many ways a kid can get injured, killed or into trouble. What better place to hide out and get high or have sex at school? (I've found evidence of both over the years.) Two years ago one of the actors snuck in the theater and had a diabetic emergency alone during school. I would start with trying to get administration backing that theater security is a high priority. I assume they will agree that it's a bad idea to have a dark dangerous place full of high power and high fall dangers open to unsupervised students. Post reminder signs to lock doors. Explain to all the normal users why the theater must be secured. You can secure it! With a lot of vigilant work, I find one door unlocked about every three weeks. Yeah it's frustrating, but it's very important and worth the hassle.

 

[gafftaper]

Personally, I think they should scatter throughout the building / evacuate rather than all herd in the same direction towards a room with 7 entrances. I intend to bring that up next week.

I agree. You might consider asking a local police officer to come help you do a risk assessment of the theater. This alone would be valuable. But you could also work in the question of what the officer thinks about this policy giving you more support with the administration.

 

[emathews]

We have one class a day that takes place in the theatre. Does anyone else have this issue? Have you figured out a way to limit access to the space outside of that one class period a day?

 

[gafftaper]

Following this post. We had a gunman in our town yesterday. Locked down 3 K-12 schools, including the one where the performing arts space that I am TD of is located, locked down 2 pre-schools, required 3 other schools to shelter in place, and neighborhoods within about 1 mile diameter of where the shooter was to shelter in place. We are a brand new space and there are so many things that need our attention that when I raised my safety protocol concerns to the principal he put it on the back burner. I have a feeling it will now get addressed sooner. As a note: our PD and surrounding town PDs did an amazing job of capturing the gunman after 4.5 hours without any injuries.

Let's keep talking here sharing ideas. Again I like the idea of bringing the police in to help you with a theater safety assessment. School districts only think about classrooms when the Commons/Lunch room and theater are the most critical points to protect.

 

[gafftaper]

We have one class a day that takes place in the theatre. Does anyone else have this issue? Have you figured out a way to limit access to the space outside of that one class period a day?

I have two classes a day. I secure the theater when I go home and check the Doors that the drama teacher has supposedly locked. The biggest problems I have is actually random administrators walking through the theater for various reasons and music teachers who bring a class in for a full stage practice session and forget to lock back up. Every time I find the door unlocked I try to determine who did it and remind them this is a dangerous place that must be secured for the safety of the kids. Your tone is important in this conversation. Don't be angry or frustrated, be concerned for kids safety. That sells! It's a long battle, but they are genuinely apologetic and over time have learned to be concerned from me.

 

[TheaterEd]

The biggest problems I have is actually random administrators walking through the theater for various reasons and music teachers who bring a class in for a full stage practice session and forget to lock back up.

SAME!! Administration, Guidance, and Maintenance are the biggest offenders.

 

[gafftaper]

The reality is that the likelihood of being in this sort of situation is not high enough to justify any actual training beyond what run-hide-fight says. To me, Vegas proved that where there's a will there's a way. I don't think any of us who have never been in that sort of situation can predict how we'll react if the worst should happen.

Now that's not to say that preparation is pointless, but whether the building's on fire or someone's shooting my kids' only job is to get out and stay out.

Hey Strad, I was watching the news last night and there were three stories about teens shooting teens, one of which was at school. Yeah it's unlikely that there will be a shooting at my school, but the violence is not going away. When you combine school shooting with lockdowns due to outside violence, I think it's a given that over the rest of my career there will be at least one serious lockdown happening at my school, probably more than one. The likelihood of a single teen vs teen revenge sort of shooting I think is probably in the 30% range. I think the likelihood of a mass shooting is more likely around 5%-10%.

Yeah I'm not very optimistic about us doing anything meaningful to prevent this stuff.

 

[gafftaper]

SAME!! Administration, Guidance, and Maintenance are the biggest offenders.

Oh maintenance is a huge problem! Drives me crazy! But they at least tend to do this when I'm around to check on them afterwards. .

 

[firewater88]

Gaff, I like your ideas in the post earlier. Seems we have a similar size theatre. The big difference is that mine is a stand-alone facility, not even on the same campus as a school. So my space is not filled with kids on a daily basis, I kinda like it that way...
My FOH position is actually in the house, we don't use the booth in the back of the balcony. So my tech, including myself, are usually right there with the patrons during a show. We haven't had any major instances inside, a few outside in the area, but nothing that impacted us inside the space.
I might push to get some guidance from the local police and see where that gets us. I like that this is being discussed and people are taking a proactive approach to this.

 

[gafftaper]

Gaff, I like your ideas in the post earlier. Seems we have a similar size theatre. The big difference is that mine is a stand-alone facility, not even on the same campus as a school. So my space is not filled with kids on a daily basis, I kinda like it that way...
My FOH position is actually in the house, we don't use the booth in the back of the balcony. So my tech, including myself, are usually right there with the patrons during a show. We haven't had any major instances inside, a few outside in the area, but nothing that impacted us inside the space.
I might push to get some guidance from the local police and see where that gets us. I like that this is being discussed and people are taking a proactive approach to this.

Yeah being in the heart of the house changes things.

The police officer we met with talked about the importance of thinking about what you would do. How could you run? How would you fight? How would you hide? Having a thoughtful conversation about it with the police and your crew means the information will be there if you ever need to use it. Maybe you need to hide a baseball bat at the FOH position. Would self defense courses be worth it? What about ways to better secure doors? etc...