Workplace Shootings – Law Enforcement Agents Stress Having a Protocol
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What should you do in the event of a workplace shooting? It’s something that’s on a lot of minds right now after a former UPS worker shot and killed both of his supervisors in Birmingham and a similar incident happened at a popular golfing spot in birmingham.
Now, law enforcement agents are urging businesses to make a plan.
Two separate workplace shootings in Birmingham have left three people dead. A fired UPS employee returned to his former place of business to kill two of his supervisors, while a man who was fired from a popular Birmingham Golf and Resort Spa also returned to kill his boss.
Now, Montgomery residents are wondering if it could happen to them. Tommy Miller is retired now, but says he used to work at a manufacturing plant.
“We didn’t have a hiding place,” he says. “But they had a system out there, you would go through security and all that stuff. But I would imagine after this happened right here, they probably will get a set up.”
Sergeant Jessie Oliver with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says having a plan can save lives. He says the state encourages employees to run, hide and fight if an active shooter is on the loose.
“You will run. Try to get distance between yourself and the shooter. Hide if possible and last, if you can’t run away or hide, you should fight.”
On average, an active shooter scenario lasts about 90 seconds and you must be able to think fast in that short time.
“You can think of when you were four or five years old, when you go play hide and seek,” Oliver explains. “Any area that can conceal you is where you want to hide. Of course, it’s best behind locked doors.”
Oliver says businesses should have several rooms that can lock. If you’re building has a key card entry, that’s even better. But all law enforcement agents stress that if you don’t have a active shooter protocol, you need to get one.
“People are just crazy,” says Montgomery resident Pauletta Rogers. “People do very crazy things and you should always have some kind of protocol so you’ll know what to do in that situation.”
If you don’t have an active shooter plan, you can call your local sheriff’s office and they will come to your workplace, free of charge and show you what to do.
