School Shootings: Sector Defense and Stashing

When I served in the military, I was a security specialist. Simply put, my job strictly involved physical security operations. Not only did I conduct these operations, I taught them.  

America has been stricken with violence since its inception as a nation. But contrary to popular belief, our violent culture is not necessarily one of a “gun culture.”

Per capita, The United States has fewer guns then any time in our history—again, per capita.  


And our violence is not necessarily one saturated around guns.

In fact, some arguable studies have claimed that guns have saved more lives than actually take. (Of note, the statistics in these reports are not conclusive)

According to the FBI, in 2016 alone 1,604 people were killed by knives while only 374 people were killed by a rile.  

If we understand the term violence, we should note that in 2016, more Americans died by opiate overdoses than the those who perished from the entire Vietnam war. And, in 2017, 50,000 Americans died by heroin overdoses.  

In 2016, 37,461 Americans died in car crashes.  

Yes, America is one violent place.  

But the one place we need to attempt to reduce our violence is in our schools.

Interestingly, we actually have done that over the years.  

Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics concluded in a recent report that the rate of violent incidents in middle schools dropped from 40 incidents per 1,000 students in the 2009-2010 school year to 27 incidents in 2015-2016.  

Unfortunately, even with the decline in violence within our schools, we maintain a very dangerous situation as seen recently in Columbine, Sandy Hook, and now Parkland.  

Many people believe stricter gun control is the answer and they may actually be right. Others believe there is no need for stricter gun control but rather better enforcement within the pre-existing gun control policies and they too may be right.  

I am not here to debate the gun control dilemma.  

What I am here is to explain a very simple concept that virtually every physical security specialist understands and that is sector defense.  

First and foremost, I am against current lock-down procedures founded in many schools across the nation.

I would much rather see the “Run, Hide, Fight” principle.  

The “Run, Hide, Fight” principle is very simple.

Run—if you have the opportunity to escape, do it.  

Hide—if the opportunity to escape does not exist, find the best cover and concealment possible and take advantage of it.  

Fight—if your cover and concealment is no longer doing its intent in protecting you, you must find it in yourself to fight.  Now, if we understand the “Run, Hide, Fight” principle, we should take it a step farther in how this can be accomplished to the greatest success possible within a school setting.  

Understanding Sectors.

The vast majority of schools across the nation have multiple hallways and multiple floors.  A single active shooter cannot sweep and clear and destroy every single hallway and floor no matter their firearm of choice.

However, what if the school had a plan to lock down the location/sector where the shooter was physically located ie the hallway or classroom?  

Those students and staff who are not in the lock-down sector can and should be on the “Run,” exiting the facility. Those who were locked down in the same sector as the shooter are now in the hide phase of “Run, Hide, Fight.”

But how dare we lock our precious cargo in with a deranged killer?  

Here is when we discuss “stashing.”  

Understanding “Stashing.”

Stashing is described as storing something safely and secretly in a secured place.  

Personally, I do not believe every single teacher across America should be armed. However, that does not mean teachers should not have access to tools that can safeguard themselves and their peers and students.  

If I were in a recommendation capacity for any school district or government body discussing this dilemma today, I would make the recommendation that schools maintain stash sights.  

These stash sights would have weapons in them and those weapons would not be pistols but collapsible AR/M-4 style weapons. The sights would not be in every classroom but some may be while others may be in say, storage closest, or other pre-designated locations—and, they would be secured with fingerprint detection locking mechanisms on the actual doors to the stash sights themselves.  

In these stash sights would not just be weapon systems but also medical kits specifically designed for treating gun shot patients—gauze, tourniquets,  chest seals, tape, quick clot, etc.   

But who would have access to these stash sights? Not everyone.  

Those with access would be volunteers who would quarterly training in medical first aid along with weapon familiarization and proficiency training.  

It is these individuals would be responsible to take the fight to the active shooter in the “Run, Hide, Fight” concept.

It would be these individuals who would fight and provide the needed time for students to exfil out of the sector under attack.  

But you said the sector would be locked down.

Yes, the sector would be locked down however, I noted I am not a fan of lock-down procedures as most schools who implemented same do.  

Even under a lock-down, students need an escape option.  

The escape option may be as simple as going through a window.

But more technical, maybe that escape option is an access point of escape from an opposite doorway which could be manually unlocked.

Either way, the option must be present to escape the kill-zone.  

Why?

Because in truth, the “Run, Hide, Fight” principle should not be a strict stand-alone concept forcing individuals to pick one of the three and sticking to that specified principle.  

You may have the means to run but at one point, maybe there is another shooter which you identify and now must hide.

Maybe that shooter walks past you and you find and opening to run again.

Make sense?

Of course, I am not in a position to have anyone take any of these recommendations and go with them as the concepts described within constitute much more depth of understanding. Nor should anyone take this information and attempt to institute same without professional consolation from a true no bullshit physical security specialist.  

That which has been written within are simply my own recommendations for others to read and debate.

But truth is, if I ever was in a position to create formal recommendations to any school, I would highly encourage them to consider such.