Auburn University Campus Safety & Security will offer two campus safety and active shooter response training sessions for students.
Training sessions will be from 5:30-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, and Thursday, Feb. 22. All training session are free and held at AU Campus Safety & Security Building, 543 W. Magnolia Ave., Auburn, Alabama.
"We talk about incidents in the past that have happened, and we get them thinking what could happen, are you prepared for that and what options do you have if it does happen so that you don't panic or freeze," said Chance Corbett, interim executive director. "We go through scenarios, we do have a couple of interactive pieces in the training as well – one is where the students are hiding, and we show why that may not be the most effective way to respond to it."
The training sessions this week were added in response to the number of calls Campus Safety & Security received recently.
"We decided, based on the current events, it may be good to go ahead and put a couple of extra classes on the calendar," Corbett said.
Campus Safety & Security regularly offers at least three training sessions per semester for students and one a month for employees, Corbett said.
"The best thing they can do, in my opinion, is prepare for it now so that they're not having to react to it later with no plan," Corbett said. "One of the biggest messages we push through our training is being able to make a decision."
Corbett said while the emergency is happening is not the correct time to start fresh and begin thinking about what to do.
In 2013, Auburn University Campus Safety & Security released an online video about its new active shooter training program. In the video, Corbett introduced the ALICE program.
ALICE is an acronym that stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. While they appear to be sequential steps in a process, Corbett said they are five options students and faculty should do in the event of an active shooter situation.
Corbett said the steps do not need to be done in any particular order, though often the natural progression of an active shooter situation will put these five steps in this order.
“Should you find yourself in danger, you may choose to run, lockdown or you may have no choice but to fight back,” Corbett said.
The video then goes into detail about each option and how to perform each one as an active shooter situation is presented in a dramatization. To view the video visit https://aub.ie/wbpOg7.
For questions about this training contact Auburn University Campus Safety & Security at campussafety@auburn.edu.
Campus Safety & Security offer scheduled sessions of many programs such as a Basic Storm Spotter course and a workplace violence prevention course. For a full list of offered courses and their scheduled sessions are shown on the Auburn University Campus Safety & Security event calendar available at https://aub.ie/SafetyTrain.
Employees can register for most courses through FAST-Train. If non-employees are interested in attending a session or need assistance or additional information, contact Campus Safety & Security at 334-844-8888 or emergencymanagement@auburn.edu.
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