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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Officer Keith Smith was one of two Austintown police officers who gave a free civilian responce course at the library Oct. 9.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Officer Allen Phillips gave a presentation at the Austintown library about how community members can be prepared for active shooter situations, including cheap and effective locking mechanisms that can prevent entry.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.During a civillian active shooter responce presentation, Officer Allen Phillips listed a few names of civilians who assisted in dangerous situations including Angela McQueen, a physical education and math teacher who took down an armed gun man at her school.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Officer Keith Smith gave a presentation at the Austintown library Oct. 9 about civilian responce to active shooter situations.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.This chart, displayed by the Austintown Police department at the library, shows the number of violent attacks accross the United States in past years.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Officer Keith Smith presented at the Austintown library on Oct. 9 to community members about how a civilian can respond to an active shooter situation.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker.Community members gathered at the Austintown library Oct. 9 for the civilian responce course put on by the Austintown Police Department.
By JESSICA HARKER
Austintown Police Officers offered free civilian response training on Oct. 9 at the Austintown library.
Officers Keith Smith and Allen Phillips put on the training, which was aimed at informing the public on best strategies in worst case scenarios.
“The goal is to prepare every day people to react in these situations,” Smith said. “Any type of tragic event whether its an active shooter or a fire or anything is going to elevate that stress level.”
Librarian Renee Beverly put on the event, stating it was part of the libraries larger goal of keeping the public safe and informed.
“It was one of those things we are trying to focus more - on ways to help the community and different ways to get more knowledge out into society,” Beverly said. “It’s a good way to help people learn what to do.”
The presentation helped to dispel myths about best actions taken during emergency situations and help the public know how they will react physically and mentally to high stress.
“A lot of people, when they are young, are taught to do certain things and that’s your mentality, like you have to hide under the table, and those aren’t the things you should be doing,” Beverly said.
Officers Smith and Phillips began the presentation by talking about the rise in active shooter crime and other violent events across the United States.
Smith said that with the rise in shooting situations law enforcement has had to change their tactics to help save lives.
“We don’t want to make people paranoid; you can’t go your whole life looking over your shoulder,” Smith said. “You’re still more likely to be struck by lightening, but the problem with that is you can see the storm coming.”
The presentation went through civilian reaction to serious crimes, including how your heart rate increases and how your body reacts to stress.
The officers then gave advice on how to prevent and reduce harm to yourself and others during dangerous situations.
“The average response time for officers in the U.S. is three minutes. So what we need to do is give you the tools to get through those three minutes,” Smith said.
Officer stated that the usual response to situations such as an active shooter is to hide and hope, which is not the best choice.
Phillips stated that your best options come from the anagram A.D.D. which stands for avoid, deny and defend.
“If you can avoid the situation entirely, get yourself to safety,” Phillip said.
If it is impossible to find a way out of a situation, barricading yourself and denying the person entrance to your location is the next best.
Finally, if it becomes impossible to avoid, civilians must defend themselves.
Phillips said that working in groups, taking a gunman by surprise, and not fighting “fair” are all key.
“Women all know, the best place to attack a man is always eyes, throat and groin,” Phillip said.
The officers stated that 90 percent of all violent crimes like these that occur in the United States are still perpetrated by a single male.
Phillips ended the presentation by emphasizing that a lot of the men who are active in crimes like this are encouraged by the infamy they get when their names are all over the news.
“We never say their names. You will never hear us speak about them,” Phillips said. “What we do is talk about the people who fought them off, and the people who lost their lives.”
About a dozen people attended the event.
“Hopefully nothing like this will happen but if it does they have some type of training they can fall on,” Beverly said.
Officers Smith and Phillips explained that the Austintown Police Department puts on this training for free for anyone in a community group or office who is interested.
To enquire about training, you can e-mail Officer Smith at smith@austintowntwp.com or Officer Phillips at aphillips@austintowntwp.com.