Active Shooter training offered on Montoya, Westside campuses

By: Daniel Johnson, Investigative Reporter | Photo By: Daniel Johnson

APD Patrolmen First Class James Vautier lectures faculty and staff in the Smith Brasher auditorium on what to do in the event of an active shooter on campus.
APD Patrolmen First Class James Vautier lectures faculty and staff in the Smith Brasher auditorium on what
to do in the event of an active shooter on campus.

Training will be provided on multiple campuses to teach fac­ulty and staff what to do if an active shooter situation should happen on campus.

Montoya and Westside campuses will each host two training sessions which will be similar to the two ses­sions recently completed on Main campus, APD Patrolmen First Class James Vautier said.

“I loved the turnout for our first session, I was surprised at how many people attended,” he said.

The training pro­vided by Vautier was created using data col­lected from the NYPD, the Virginia Tech mas­sacre, APD psycholo­gists and mental health case studies from past shootings, he said.

Vautier’s tech­nique is similar to the Run, Hide, Fight technique, but focuses more on what a person can do to prevent a shooting, Vautier said.

Vautier believes that getting people to be aware without being paranoid is the best way to ensure that someone will spot a shooter before anyone gets hurt, he said.

“I want people to have an idea of what to look for with a person who may need help, but I also want them to know what to do in case an active shooter event was to occur on campus,” he said.

Deaf Services Coordinator Faith Timm, who attended the Main campus session, said the training could have been more focused specifically on active shooters on col­lege campuses, but still felt it was helpful.

“I thought the training was good and worth my time and I would recom­mend that all staff and faculty make it to the training if they can,” she said.

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