On August 29, 2022, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported that a Safeway employee was killed in a shooting at a Safeway supermarket in Bend, Oregon.
As the investigation into this tragedy continues, it serves as a reminder that employers, particularly those in the retail industry, need to develop polices and training for their employees on how to respond to an active shooter situation.
The FBI defines “active shooter” as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” Under this definition, the FBI designated 61 active shooter incidents in 2021, a 52.5% increase over 2020.
Of the 464 active attacks between 2000 and 2021, the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University noted that civilians (e.g., potential victims) were able to stop the attacker in 73 cases.
Resources
The Honolulu Police Department Major Events Division (MED) gives presentations on active shooter and other similar critical incident situations upon request. MED can also assist an organization’s discussions to raise awareness of active shooters’ possible characteristics and behaviors that may be pre-incident indicators and options to deal with active shooter situations. Requests to MED for a presentation may be made at https://www.honolulupd.org/police-services/speaker-request/. MED also provides the following active shooter resources from the ALERRT Center:
In addition, Hawaii Employers Council members have access to HEC’s Learning Management System (LMS), which is a library of online courses including, but not limited to, active shooter and workplace violence training. For more information about the LMS, please contact Tina Leger, Facilitator, Talent and Organizational Development, via email at tleger@hecouncil.org or phone at 808-440-8822.