New SWAT tactics for school shootings

Exclusive video of a full-scale active shooter exercise

New training and technologies allow schools to help SWAT teams quickly neutralize active shooters and rescue hostages.

DENVER, Colorado (School Safety Partners) August 23, 2010 -- Here is an exclusive look at the latest police & SWAT tactics for Columbine-style school shootings and violent intruder attacks.

This full-scale exercise at a high school in Utah shows how Federal training for school staff now allows schools to partner up with local first responders and improve school safety.

New technologies turn basic school radios and surveillance cameras into tools that help police and SWAT teams achieve the pinpoint accuracy of a smart bomb when it comes time to neutralize violent offenders.

Applied more broadly to handle other types of crises, technology that provides interoperable communications between schools and first responders can be the primary enabling technology for the community partnering envisioned at the Federal level, and promoted by the U.S. Department of Education through their Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grant program.

According to Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, a leading school safety organization serving REMS grant winners, "interoperable communications requires human interoperability" and this calls for schools to learn how to use 2-way radios to contribute to a crisis response with the best that they have to offer -- in-depth knowledge about their facilities, their staff, and their students.

Special training in 2-way radio interoperability for schools has been spearheaded by SchoolSAFE Communications, a provider of the bridging technology for schools in states that are ready for it. The company has just launched 21 new pilot programs in 10 states across the country.

This video was produced using only the unrehearsed radio dialog that was captured during the exercise and the synchronized video footage caught on 8 different surveillance cameras mounted outside and in the school hallways.

As you follow the shooters you will notice exercise facilitators standing by to guard against mishaps, operating the smoke machine, and dispensing ammo to the perps as they take hostages.

The maneuvers of the three law enforcment teams seen here are based on the information they receive moment-by-moment, with no scripting.

You will hear the school principal help provide crucial behind-the-scenes support so that the teams can quickly box in the gunmen before rushing through the last door to take them down.

Produced by School Safety Partners
http://www.schoolsafetypartners.org/communications/679-New-SWAT-tactics-for-school-shootings.html