Tabletop Exercise Domestic Violence Shooter

Texas School Safety Center www.txssc.txstate.edu

Tabletop ExerciseDomestic Violence Shooter

Division for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Institutional Research


Rules of the Road

Creativity/Group Problem Solving Use the knowledge and information

available in the room Active Thinking Active Listening Active Participation Respect – challenge ideas, not people Reality Check – make the exercise real for

you.


Agenda

Introductions Scenario Description Hot Wash (Debrief) Action Planning


Introductions


The Exercise Continuum

Drills Tabletop Exercises Functional Exercises Full-Scale Exercises


How does a tabletop exercise work?

Scenario-based discussion, guided by a facilitator

Problems talked through without stress Evaluators selected to observe and offer

feedback on the proceedings Policies, plans, and guidelines are

updated


What is a tabletop exercise?

Simulates an emergency situation in an informal, stress-free environment

Initiates discussion of emergency guidelines

Focuses on training and familiarization with roles, guidelines, and responsibilities


What determines the success of a tabletop?

A successful tabletop leaves participants with: A positive learning experience Organizational learning Improvement action planning More effective policies, plans, and guidelines Improved preparedness


Exercise Guidelines

This exercise is designed to test the preparedness of the _____ to respond to a multi-agency, multi-site emergency event

Following the exercise, there will be a debriefing time or “Hot Wash”

Each participant will be given the opportunity to share his/her views on what worked well and what needs to be addressed in additional planning, training and/or drilling


Exercise Guidelines (cont.)

_____ISD/college policy shall govern all activities relating to the emergency event.

The facilitator shall serve as the exercise referee and will provide any official interpretation of the exercise rules.

Although we will not actually be contacting them, ISD/college and outside resources are available to assist you.


Exercise Guidelines (cont.)

From time to time, there will be injections to the scenario. These are intended to further assess response to the exercise scenario.

This is a learning experience.


Purpose

To examine current policies, procedures, resources and actions in the context to a response to domestic violence/shooter in a school/college setting

To promote greater understanding and ability to apply NIMS/ICS principles in a college setting

To make improvements as identified as an outcome of the exercise


Objectives

To evaluate policies and procedures To evaluate command and control

including communications procedures To identify resources needed vs. available To identify training needs To identify needed improvements and

create an action plan to address those needs


Demographic Overview

On this slide, add bullets of information about the demographics of your school/college, including but not limited to: Number of schools/facilities Types of schools/facilities Athletic facilities Student population Employee population


First Responder Resource Overview

On this slide, add bullets of information about the first responder resources immediately available to your school/college, including but not limited to: Police Fire EMS


Threat Assessment

On this slide, add bullets of information about the known threats to your school/college, including but not limited to: Internal threats External threats


Scenario

As the students arrived at ______________ school on the first day after spring break, a woman is noticed entering through the bus entrance with the children. Because the teachers on bus duty recognize the woman as a parent and the spouse of the special education teacher, no one questioned her as she entered the building. The woman, however, did not report to the office but went to her husband’s classroom with the children.


Scenario Continued When the woman arrived in the classroom, she pulled a

handgun from her purse and began screaming at her husband (her husband had told her the previous evening that he was going to file for divorce and petition for custody of their child.) The teacher shouted for the students to duck under their desks but before he could finish, his wife began shooting, hitting him three times in the stomach.

Upon hearing the gun shots, a teacher in a nearby classroom called the office. The principal activated the school’s emergency plan and ordered an immediate lock-down.


Questions

What do you need to know? How do you find the information? What does your EOP direct? What are you going to do?


Questions

Where will you establish your Command Post for this incident?

After establishing command, what will you do first? Why?

What is your first concern in this situation? For what contingencies must you plan?


Scenario Inject # 1 The police are on their way but it will take several

minutes. According to a teacher in an adjacent classroom, a male teacher who is a friend of the shooter and her husband went to the classroom in an attempt to calm the shooter. The teacher reports that she heard two more gunshots but is unsure if anyone was hurt. The teacher also says that she does not know the condition of the shooter’s husband, but says that she can hear the students in the classroom screaming and crying. The shooter also sounds hysterical. She is screaming, threatening to “burn the school down.”


Scenario Inject # 1 Continued

A custodian has told the secretary that he is going to sneak down the hallway to see if he can gather more information about what’s going on in the classroom.


Questions

What actions will you take? Do you activate your school/college

incident command? What is your ICS structure?


ICS Structure Questions

Who is the Incident Commander? Who is the Public Information Officer? Who is the Liaison Officer? Who is the Operations Chief? What other ICS positions will you activate

and who will fill them?


Questions

How does this information change your planning?

What should you do about the custodian? How will you communicate an evacuation

order to the teachers? How will you evacuate the classrooms in

close proximity to the shooter?


Questions

For what contingencies should you plan?

How will you notify parents? What will you tell them?

What does the fact that the male teacher placed himself at risk tell you about your school plan?


Scenario Inject # 2 The police and a hostage negotiator have arrived at

the scene. They have cordoned off the area surrounding the school. Fire personnel and several emergency medical service crews have also been dispatched to the school but, at this time, only one fire truck has arrived.

Just as the police arrive, the phone rings in the office. The shooter is calling to tell the principal to tell the police to go away. Then, the shooter hangs up the phone abruptly. The situation in the classroom is uncertain.



Three teachers have sent runners who report that some of the younger children are extremely upset and requesting additional help.

Some parents have started to arrive, including the parents of several students in the classroom with the shooter. The mother of one student is sobbing uncontrollably and is demanding that “someone” do “something” to save her child.



The media have picked up the story and interrupted regularly scheduled programming with the news alert.


Questions

What information will you provide to the incoming Incident Commander (the senior officer) during your change-of-command briefing?

What will you do to help the teachers who have requested assistance?

How will you work with the police throughout the remainder of the incident?


Questions

Will you allow arriving parents to pick up their children? If yes, where will your parent/student reunification point be?

What will you do to calm the hysterical mother?

For what long-range processes must you plan?


Scenario Inject # 3 It is now approximately 1½ hours since the incident started.

Through the efforts of the hostage negotiator, the shooter has surrendered without further violence. Police are escorting her to a police vehicle

As the shooter surrendered, armed officers and the principal entered the classroom. They were immediate mobbed by the children, all of whom were crying loudly. The shooter’s husband is lying on the floor at the front the classroom and is covered in blood. It is not immediately clear if he is alive. The male teacher who had hoped to mediate the dispute, has also been shot but is able to speak to the police.



Reporters are now on the scene from every local media outlet. Several are trying to interview teachers and students to see how they feel about the incident.

Additional parents have also arrived and are upset that they cannot pass beyond the police barrier to talk to school personnel and pick up their children.


Questions

What can you do to assist the police in calming the parents?

How will you handle the media?


Hot Wash


Hot Wash

How well did your EOP operate and what actions will you take toward improvement?

How well did your ICS Team operate and what actions will you take toward improvement?

How well did your Communications Plan operate and what actions will you take toward improvement?


Hot Wash

What can be done to improve campus police/security operations?

What internal divisions were required to work together in this scenario?

What external agencies did the Liaison Officer need to work with in this scenario?

Are all necessary agreements in place to facilitate cooperation among agencies?


Action Plan

The lessons learned during this table top exercise will lead to a college action plan to: Keep Doing ______ Stop Doing ______ Start Doing ______


Conclusion

The Texas School Safety Center, Division for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security, and Institutional Research is available for: Training/Facilitation Technical Assistance Information


Contact Us

Web:

www.txssc.txstate.edu

Phone:

877-304-2727

Tabletop Exercise Domestic Violence Shooter

Documents

Transcript of Tabletop Exercise Domestic Violence Shooter