ProShooter wrote:
Dreamer wrote:
They have scheduled an "active shooter" drill on my college campus this Tuesday.
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-studentlife/police/training_video.cfm
Kudos to the Police Chief for putting out that video. Nice to keep the public informed so that panic is at a minimum.
They had signs posted all over campus too, and the ENTIRE section of campus where the exercise was happening was roped off with police tape, roadblock barricades and security staffers.
And actually, Summer Session just began today, and there were fewer than 1000 students on campus, and THOSE were being kept several hundred feet away from the effected (or should that be AFFECTED?...) buildings with police tape and barricades.
Most of the exercise was inside the buildings and for the entire time I was on campus today (from 9am-2pm) I didn't see a single bit of "activity" other than a few cruisers sitting in parking lots with their lights on.
I talked with some of the campus security folks, and they told me that the participants in the exercise finally "apprehended" the "shooter" sometime around 11:30.
The exercise began at 9:15.
Over 2 hours to "secure" the scene? Let's see what that would have done, historically:
Columbine: total elapsed shooting time: 32 minutes. 15 dead, 21 wounded. Police located Klebold and Harris about 10 minutes after they committed suicide.
VA Tech: total elapsed shooting time: 30 minutes. 32 dead, 19 wounded. Police located Cho about 5 minutes after he committed suicide.
University of TX: total elapsed shooting time: 90 minutes. 14 dead, 32 wounded. Police located Charles Whitman only after civilian student were able to provide suppressive fire with their legally-possessed hunting rifles so that police could gain access to the Tower. Whitman was shot by police, ending the incident.
So on this campus, where the possession of firearms is prohibited, and the average response time for Greenville City police to 911 calls is between 16 and 20 minutes, a 2-hour timeline for apprehending a "shooter" does not inspire a tremendous feeling of safety.
Consider that this exercise included local police, campus police, State Bureau of Investigation special operations officers, and even FBI specialists. Estimates are that between 50-100 LEOs were part of "active" part of this exercise, with a support staff of nearly 50 additional EMS personnel, firemen, unarmed campus security and other civilian support staff.
2 Hours.
In a cordoned-off area that included 7 buildings (from 2-5 stories--4 dorms and 3 general buildings) within less than 2 acres, and had NO students running around in a panic or trapped classrooms, dorm rooms or cafeterias. (yeah, THAT'S gonna provide a realistic scenario...)
2 Hours.
They must have arrived just in time to draw the chalk outlines and take forensic photographs.
Thank you, NCGC §14-269.2(b) for keeping my campus "gun free" by disarming law-abiding citizens on school property, and stripping them of their basic human right of self-defense.
I'm sure that the thugs, rapists, and the criminally insane will all abide by this statute and the pretty signs too.
What a tremendous waste of taxpayers money. They should have sent them all to the FBI academy in Quantico, or to H&K's Urban Tactical Workshops in Centreville VA, or to the BATFE's Forensic Labs for training in MD. Maybe THOSE sorts of training would actually have some sort of real-world impact on how our local LEA's do their jobs. But this little "photo-op" game of cowboys and indians is just a pointless waste of time and money, and only serves as a media event to instill a false sense of security, and garner support for increased funding for the further militarization of our police forces.
They say they are doing this to "provide an elevated level of safety" on campus.
I wonder if ANYONE in the NC Le community has ever heard of "Warren v. the District of Columbia", or bothered to study the timelines of historical civic "lone-nut" massacres in the US (EVERY SINGLE ONE of which, btw happened AFTER the Brady Campaign was started in 1983, with the exception of the UT incident, which was ONLY stopped because students had firearms)? Apparently not...
Yeah, I feel MUCH safer now...
Don't get me wrong. I'm NOT against LE training. I think we should see that all our LEO's are up-to-speed in current techniques, and in the use of the tools they need to do their job. But I think that this particular event is just ill-conceived, and quite honestly, a bit insulting to the intelligence of anyone who can think past the next episode of "Lost".It's fundamental premise is flawed, it's execution is completely non-realistic, and the message it sends is contrary to the legal, operational, logistical and historical facts of the matter.
I reject their "reality", and choose mine (which is based on facts, not some bureaucratically-dreamed-up fantasy) instead.
"How many fingers am I holding up now, Winston?"
every time I go on Adorama's site.
