Active Violence Incident (AVI) Response training is a cornerstone in law enforcement training. The primary focus is on contact teams, formations, negotiating stairs, making room entries and neutralizing the threat. Training usually stops immediately after the suspect has been neutralized.
While police training has become proficient at stopping the killing, most agencies are not training to stop the dying by initiating tactical emergency medical care for the wounded, extracting victims and organizing the response through incident command. To ensure a comprehensive response, agencies should evaluate their current Active Violence Incident (AVI) training against the following essential questions.
Does your agency set up incident command?
The law enforcement response at Uvalde failed to establish effective incident command. This lack of organization caused multiple failures in the response, resulting in lost lives.
Incident Command must be initiated quickly. If agencies do not practice it during training, units responding to an AVI will not have experience providing intelligence and receiving directions from an Incident Commander. Officers must receive training on Incident Command because Incident Command may not be initiated by a ranking officer (the Incident Commander could be the first responding officer not directly involved in a contact team). Furthermore, ranking officers must practice Incident Command. Too often, AVI focuses on responding officer tactics and not the necessary skills to coordinate and optimize their activities.
Initial Incident Command should be set in an area visible to the incident but at the edge of the warm zone. This incident command should have an incident commander, a scribe and a radio operator (the scribe records information, and the radio operator handles all radio traffic at incident command). During training, change these roles after each practical exercise to allow others to gain experience and facilitate team integration.
Incident command posts should become Unified Command Posts (UCP). The UCP includes representatives from fire and rescue, the various law enforcement agencies involved in the response, and any other elements of the operation. This should also be incorporated into training when possible.
As an incident develops, the initial Incident Command may become a Tactical Operations Command (TOC) when the formal Incident Command is created. Formal Incident Command may be moved off-site of the incident. Depending on the scale of the practical exercise, switching to a Formal Incident Command may not be practical and may be practiced by conducting separate tabletop exercises.
Does your agency set a perimeter during training?
Incident Command should direct officers not involved in a contact team to set up a perimeter during training. During an event, the perimeter will contain the threat in the area but can also keep people from entering it. Officers must know how to set a secure perimeter and direct individuals attempting to enter or exit the scene.
Perimeter officers must monitor the radio traffic from incident command so they know where the staging areas are located. Perimeter officers may have to direct individuals to the proper staging area. They must be situationally aware of the ongoing operation and prepared to handle any threat.
Does your agency involve dispatch and use radios during training?
Communication during an AVI is crucial. To avoid friendly fire, contact teams need to be aware of the areas each team is operating in. The Incident Commander must direct different elements during the event. Dispatch centers need to know their role during an AVI and must be prepared in advance. Often, multiple jurisdictions are responding to the event, and it is important to handle having different jurisdictions responding to the incident.
By including dispatch and using radios during training, agencies can evaluate their AVI communications plans and capabilities before an incident happens. Dispatchers will gain experience in tactical communications and learn what needs to be relayed to Incident Command.
Does your agency train with other agencies?
It is likely that outside agencies from surrounding jurisdictions will respond to an AVI near their jurisdiction. Agencies can expect issues in communication (e.g., different radio frequencies, terminology, etc.), different tactical doctrines and various other issues. Some of these issues can be addressed by conducting joint training with surrounding jurisdictions.
Does your agency have a plan to deal with overconvergence?
Overconvergence occurs when unrequested personnel and apparatus arrive. This creates issues in identifying and tracking resources. Additionally, numerous responder vehicles at a scene can create congestion and impede the travel of arriving and departing units, thereby inadvertently increasing deaths and injuries.
Agencies should incorporate strategies to address overconvergence during training. Some of these strategies include having responding units park their vehicles in a consistent and coordinated manner, establishing unified command and setting staging areas.
Does your agency train members on wound care?
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC), Stop the Bleed and Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) are just a few programs that address treating wounds related to an AVI. Each of these programs teaches essential skills for managing injuries sustained in such incidents. It is crucial for agencies to train their officers in wound care during initial recruit training, with regular refresher training incorporated into ongoing AVI training sessions.
Does your agency train with fire and EMS?
Agencies must determine the response from fire and EMS agencies in their areas. The response may vary and directly affects how your agency handles wound care. Wound care may be in the form of law enforcement extractions, Rescue Task Force and even law enforcement transports in some areas.
Joint training with fire and EMS can address a range of real-world deployment and communication issues. It allows all responders to gain a better perspective of their respective roles during an AVI and fosters a working relationship with stakeholders.
Does your agency have the proper equipment available?
Agencies should issue medical kits for self-care. Larger medical kits should be staged in places like vehicles or stations to expedite wound care during the event.
Breaching equipment, building plans, command boards and similar items should also be available in locations where they will be readily accessible during an incident.
Conclusion
The above items are not an exhaustive list. Agencies should be aware of other areas, such as mitigation and recovery, when developing their AVI response programs.
Most importantly, AVI training must be as realistic as possible and conducted at least annually. By answering these questions, your agency will be able to correct issues before an incident occurs, thus saving countless lives.
