Wolf Point School Staff Learns To React In Crisis Situations
Wolf Point teachers and other staff members learned how to react in crisis situations during an active shooters training conducted by Sheehan Strategic Solutions on Thursday, Aug. 20.
Chad Sheehan began his law enforcement career in 1994, and he was elected sheriff of Woodbury County, Iowa, in 2020. His experience also includes the hostage negotiation unit, field training officer, school resource officer, community policing unit, honor guard member and a critical incident stress management team member.
Sheehan told this newspaper that after the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012, he realized that schools often don’t realize what to do in such a situation. He performed research on the topic for 10 months and then developed the “SAVE Yourself” program. He has made presentations to more than 300,000 people in 28 states since January 2014.
SAVE stands for Shelter in place, Awareness, Violence stops violence and Evacuate.
Wolf Point Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Perkins explained about the presentation, “The idea is you have to save yourself before you can save anybody else. He’s getting people to learn how to react.”
Sheehan told audience members that a common theme when such incidents occur is people saying “I never thought it would happen here.” The speaker explained that it’s dangerous to have those kind of beliefs. “That’s living in denial, and denial is deadly.”
Denial causes a person not to be prepared when an active shooter situation occurs. Sheehan explained that if you aren’t psychology prepared, you are less likely to react. He also added that people shouldn’t rationalize what they see or hear. Often, people rationalize that a gunshot is simply from a movie or fireworks.
“You’re wasting time when you do that,” Sheehan said. The average U.S. law enforcement response time is 7-11 minutes from the first shot. The average active killing incident is over in 3-6 minutes. He reminded audience members that the first priority is to safe themselves before they can save others.
He also discussed the importance of public involvement. He said a possible school shooting in Oklahoma during 2012 was avoided because classmates reported to school officials that a friend was acting strangely. It was found that the student had a large amount of ammunition and explosives in his bedroom.
“That’s what it’s important to have appropriate, established relationships with students,” Sheehan said. “We have to relay on good people like you to come forward with information.”
Scenarios were held at the high school and Southside Elementary School as part of the training on Thursday afternoon.
