Mental preparedness and awareness of one’s environment are key to survival in an active-shooter scenario.
With that in mind, township officials and Police Director Kenneth McCormick presented a workshop to help employees of North Brunswick remain safe in the event of an active-shooter situation. The township is the first municipality in Middlesex County to hold such a workshop for municipal employees.
The training was split into two sessions on Sept. 24.
McCormick said the Police Department conducts active-shooter training throughout the year. Police visit the schools to train faculty and staff, as well as students.
Andrea Craparotta, a retired captain with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and former director of the Middlesex County College Police Department, and James South, president and CEO of South Investigations, presented the training seminars for North Brunswick employees.
South is a retired New Jersey State Police trooper who served as operations supervisor of the shooting response team in Camden. The unit was formed to reduce the number of nonfatal shootings in Camden, which has been ranked among the most violent cities in the U.S.
Craparotta said active-shooter incidents can happen anywhere — inside or outside.
“These [shootings] are not in your inner cities,” she said, noting inner cities have their own problems with street crime.
She said a map showing the 74 school shootings that have occurred since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 shows they can happen anywhere in the country.
South noted that an active-shooter incident happened on Sept. 23 in Alabama, reportedly involving a workplace shooting by a disgruntled employee.
The number of active-shooter incidents has increased in recent years, and one-third of them are over in less than five minutes, Craparotta said. In 2013, a shooter walked into the library on the Santa Monica College campus and fired off 70 rounds. South said it takes “a matter of seconds” to fire that many shots with a semiautomatic rifle. Nobody was killed in the library, and that was partly attributed to school employees having undergone active-shooter training.
“Workplace training was essential to save lives that day,” Craparotta said. “Employees ushered people into the safe zone, and the gunman is going towards them and shooting off rounds, but none are hitting the people. As the gunman is occupied, the other people in the library are able to run out the front door.”
Responding police officers shot and killed the gunman in the library.
Craparotta said she has studied many active shooter cases.
“It’s like watching someone hunting, looking for prey,” she said. “It’s important for people to play hide-and-seek for their lives when encountering an active-shooter situation.”
Craparotta said she focused on mental preparedness after she was asked to devise a safer environment for the 220-acre, 38- building campus of Middlesex County College, Edison.
Craparotta said it is important for employees to build confidence in their environment. If an active shooter comes into their space, an employee has to decide where to go. South said it is something people should think about so they are prepared mentally and physically if such a situation occurs.
An active shooting typically brings a chaotic scene, with police, first aid, military, news crews, helicopters and more at the scene, South said.
“Because of the severity of the situation, we conduct a lockdown and every individual on-scene is part of a massive investigation,” he said.
Craparotta said it’s important to listen and do what an officer says. She said officers are there to defuse the threat, and once that is done, they can render aid.
“The last thing we want to do is have anyone hurt during friendly fire,” she said.
During the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, shooter Seung-Hui Cho was methodically checking all the doors, and he would move on when a door was locked, Craparotta said.
“In one particular room, the door wouldn’t lock and the people on the other side of the door were holding it shut,” she said. “The shooter tried to get in, but couldn’t and moved on. … You really never know; their actions saved more lives.”
Thirty-two people were killed during the Virginia Tech shooting.
During the Sandy Hook shooting, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six staff members, some of those killed were found huddled together, which Craparotta said was unfortunate.
“It just makes for a bigger target,” she said.
It is important for community members to speak up if they see or hear something suspicious.
“The municipal building is a public building with the Police Department right next door,” Craparotta said. “The open access at times can create a challenge, but you don’t want it to become a prison.”
Craparotta said police can do an assessment of one’s workplace to provide advice regarding an active-shooter scenario.
“Prevention is what we do,” she said. Contact Kathy Chang at [email protected].