Active Shooter Response Training

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A 20-year review by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) between 2000 and 2019 showed a dramatic rise of active shooter incidents. A heavy majority of these events have taken place at businesses, schools, and houses of worship. And, unfortunately, violent incidents senselessly taking the lives of people in our communities has continued since 2020. 

 

Even though these events remain rare, the cost of being unprepared can prove to be fatal. It’s just as important to note that being prepared and trained in the event of an active shooter can save your life. As Jeffrey Cohen, one of the four hostage survivors from Congregation Beth Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas on January 15, 2022, said in reference to active shooter training, “First of all, we escaped. We weren’t released or freed. We escaped because we had training . . . on what to do in the event of an active shooter. This training saved our lives. I am not speaking in hyperbole here – it saved our lives.”

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Our founder, Jim Levine, is a certified active shooter response instructor and has served for two regional law enforcement SWAT teams. While serving for one of those SWAT teams in Northeast Ohio, Jim responded to the tragic school shooting at Chardon High School in 2012. Jim knows first-hand the importance of active shooter training and its power to save lives.

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When examining traditional approaches to active threats and active shooters, Jim found room for improvement. While all programs designed to address active shooters are good in nature, some are difficult to remember and others create acronyms with their processes out of order.

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So Levine created, ELF - Evacuate, Lockdown, Fight. A three-step, sequential approach to active shooter response. We’ve found using a fabled elf as the face of our program to be both an effective and whimsical reminder of what to do if you find yourself in the presence of an active shooter.

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Levine Security Solutions provides in-service training for organizations to learn ELF and how to recognize warning signs of active threats. These one-day trainings are able to be conducted for both small groups and large groups alike. We use classroom instruction and scenario-based exercises to put learned materials into practice.