A room full of Allen County employees confronted the unthinkable Thursday afternoon.
The topic — how to respond in the event of an armed or otherwise violent intruder — was covered in depth through a four-hour ALICE training session provided by the Allen County Sheriff’s Department.
Sheriff’s deputy and instructor Jason Kegler instilled the ALICE training tenets: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.
The program has one primary focus, Kegler noted: Survival of those who find themselves under attack.
Kegler erased several myths surrounding school or office shootings.
Folks cannot safely assume law enforcement will arrive at the scene in time to stop an ongoing attack, Kegler said, noting the minimum response time of recent notorious shootings was 7 minutes.
However, the average mass shooting incident lasts less than 5 minutes, Kegler noted. Response time could be much longer in rural communities, such as Iola, where law enforcement could be on the other side of the county.
That makes it imperative to know how to react.
That leads to ALICE, in order to provide comprehensive preparedness, by utilizing infrastructure, technology, and perhaps most importantly, human action, to increase survival changes.
The program has one primary focus: survival.
KEGLER NOTED the ALICE training need not be done in sequence.
For example, a person may first need to counter an attacker before they can alert others or inform authorities. Thus, a large portion of Thursday’s training was on how to counter an armed intruder in a large office or classroom area.
While many, but not all, attackers are less skilled marksmen than are trained police officers, their accuracy tends to be much greater than law enforcement during active shooting situations.
There’s a good reason for that, Kegler said. A gunman’s targets usually aren’t shooting back.
And officers have to contend, not only with a gunman potentially firing at them, but they also must remain cognizant of innocent bystanders being caught in the crossfire.
While Kegler stopped well short of encouraging folks to carry firearms themselves, they can take certain steps to distract, and potentially take down, an armed attacker.
To illustrate, he gathered a small group of employees and asked them to toss foam balls back and forth.
They did so flawlessly, until Kegler pulled out a tin can and pretended to throw it at one of the employees. She flinched, and the ball bounced off her hand.
A similar reaction to a gunman could greatly diminish his ability to hit his target. Likewise, a small group of two or three could effectively counteract a gunman by pulling his arms to his side, while another dives at the attacker’s knees.
Simple diversions, or at least threats of diversion, could prove huge, Kegler said.
Kegler turned to another acronym, the “OODA Loop,” which serves the basis for every action a person does.
OODA stands for observe, orient, decide and act. Anything from walking across a floor to shooting a basketball (or a gun) must follow the OODA loop process.
Interfering with that process. Perhaps just shouting or waving your hands at a gunman, could distract enough for another person to help disarm him.
While it’s impossible to devise every possible scenario and subsequent response, Kegler encouraged the attendees to think how they’d react if trouble arose. He recommended periodic drills, such as how schools do for fires and tornadoes.
KEGLER IS eager to work with other groups, businesses or churches on ALICE training. Likewise, the Iola Police Department is in the midst of training officers to instruct similar classes. Kegler envisions a collaborative effort between the two entities.
For more information, contact Kegler at (620) 365-1400.
