Students, faculty and staff learned about proper response techniques to maximize safety in an active shooter situation in Colusa Hall, Tuesday morning, during a training hosted by the University Police Department

The two hour long training, titled “19 seconds,” refers to the amount of time it takes a trained shooter to fire off two handgun clips. The course was originally developed by the police department at Fresno State, specifically for individuals working in academic or educational institutions.

The training was led by Lieutenant Corinne Beck, who began by allowing participants to listen to an actual call made to a police department when an active shooter had entered the campus. After listening, Beck informed participants on the best ways to interact with police on the phone during a crisis. Suspect description and location, as well as any medical emergencies, are information that police are looking for when responding to a crisis.

Participants were also asked to separate into three different groups based on their response to an active shooter: run, hide and fight. Groups then created a plan of action and discussed the difficulties each group came across.

• Runners faced the problem of having the biggest group, while only having one small exit to leave through.
• Hiders discovered that there was a lack of objects or walls to hide behind.
• Fighters struggled to decide on the best way of attack. One of them eventually settled on using a fire hydrant as a striking weapon.

The next training will be held on Nov. 27 from 2 p.m to 4 p.m in Colusa Hall 100B.

Brian Luong can be reached at [email protected] or @brianluongorion on Twitter.