The goal of the First Responder to Active Shooter course is to aid police officers, specifically the true first responders, in their ability to safely and effectively respond to - address - and stop an active shooter.

Background
The tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado changed the way law enforcement reacts to active shooting situations. When two students took control of Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, the first responding patrol officers established a perimeter and called in the SWAT team. For 45 minutes, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had free rein of the school before the SWAT team made entry. During this 45 minutes, the shooters killed 13 people, critically wounded 24 and injured more than 160 others. The first responders were crucified in the media for their perceived lack of response to the unfolding events at Columbine High School. What the media and public did not understand was that the first responders acted as they had been trained and conditioned to do. This tragedy identified weaknesses and outdated philosophies in tactical training and response.

Emergency deployment protocols were developed across the country and agencies recognized the need to empower the first responders to make immediate, tactical decisions to stop the ongoing violence and save lives. However, this new mandate must also be addressed in training, It is neither appropriate nor advisable to simply TELL our first responders how to respond without first training them HOW TO respond. The ultimate mission of the ALERRT Active Shooter course is to train first responders in basic tactical skills to safely and effectively respond to - address - and stop an active shooter - and to offer this training to agencies at little or no cost to the agency or the officers taking the course.

Violent attacks in schools, businesses and public places continue to rise, and national terrorism alerts remain in the headlines. The responsibility for quality comprehensive tactical training falls on the shoulders of the men and women who are the front line responders to such critical incidents. Law enforcement agencies across the country are seeking to develop new tactics, policies and awareness programs to deal with active shooter situations.

Introduction
This active shooter phenomenon has resulted in big changes in law enforcement’s response to such incidents. In order to limit such tragedies in the future, we have had to rethink traditional response tactics. Providing first responding officers with the appropriate training, tools and tactics is essential to face and resolve these new dangers.

We started this program with basic goals - offering proven tactical training to first responders to prepare them to protect their communities and to save lives. This training must be affordable for all who needed it. It could not be exclusively conducted as classroom setting. It would need to encompass force-on-force scenarios, active shooter, and survival stress reaction. Most importantly, this training must be delivered by veteran field officers who had personal “boots on the ground” life experience in the realities of this new kind of terrorism that threatens our communities. We know that we have met these goals.

The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Program has already reached more than 10,000 front line law enforcement officers from nearly 600 agencies in 46 geographical regions of the United States. We have more than 80 adjunct instructors who travel to host agencies across Texas and the country to present the ALERRT active shooter classes, along with 100+ certified trainers who are qualified to conduct the ALERRT training within their own agencies ,with equipment and support from the ALERRT Center.

With outstanding support from the Sponsored Programs Office at Texas State University | San Marcos, the ALERRT program has been afforded federal and state funding to bring this Rapid Response training to frontline officers across Texas and the nation. In 2007, we are struggling to keep up with the demand for training. The need is evident. The training is highly regarded by all levels of officers - from rookie first-line responders to veteran Texas Rangers. This year we are increasing our scope with more “train the trainer” classes to add to our pool of adjunct instructors.

And as you go through this training course, be assured that we have done our best to remember where we started: tactical training for front line police officers, designed and delivered by leading officers who have been - like you -those first responders with “boots on the ground” front line experience.

Scheduling

In the first six years, we have trained more than 10,000 first responders in the ALERRT Active Shooter program. Our FY07 fiscal year began in September of 2006. To date, we have received more than $6.2 million in training funds.

For FY07:

We have received $1.38 million from the Texas Governor's Office/Criminal Justice Division to teach the basic active shooter course as well as several train the trainer classes in Texas during FY07.

We have received $650,000 from the United States Bureau of Justice Assistance to take the program beyond the Texas borders to states across the nation. While the agencies who will receive training through this $650,000 have been earmarked, we are compiling a waiting list of non-Texas agencies who are interested in bringing this active shooter training to their regions. Contact us for more information.

The ALERRT program has also been approved by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Grants and Training and is listed in their Approved State Sponsored Course Catalog. If the ALERRT training fits within the mission of your State Administrative Agency, they may elect to allocate some of their DHS Funds for this training.