When an active shooter opened fire in the Capital Gazette building on June 28th, 2018, an employee named Wendi Winters charged forward using a trash can and a recycling bin as a shield in a desperate attempt to hold off the shooter and save lives. Unfortunately, she was one of many to eventually lose her life that day. Regardless, she has been hailed as a hero for deterring the shooter for precious seconds, and as a result, saved many more lives. Nonetheless, the sad reality is that she and many others might still be here today had there been trained officers stationed in a secure guard building on the premises.
The question becomes what can be learned from the mistakes of the past in order to better address active shooter situations? While it is important to know what to do in an active shooter situation, the bottom line is that active shooter training is not enough. As such, the focus in active shooter situations must absolutely be shifted towards prevention through the increased use of security guard buildings in order to keep these kinds of tragedies from happening in the first place. The reality is that no matter how much active shooter training a workforce might have, this will not prevent a shooter from opening fire in the first place.
This is precisely why an on-site guard building is a must when it comes to keeping workplaces adequately protected from the increased threat of active shooter situations, and guard booth manufacturers have risen to the challenge to produce security guard buildings best suited to allow trained officers to curtail active shooter situations before anybody gets hurt.
An expert on active attacker response and survival, points out a major problem during active shooter situations is that, even with active shooter training, members of the workforce are often immobilized due to the heightened tension and stress of the situation and find themselves unable to adequately respond. As we have learned from the Capital Gazette shooting, even when do they do, it is highly likely to be not enough to curtail a shooter.
This is why an on-site guard building is the first line of defense in any workplace environment. Security guard buildings not only provide a safe setting to stop a shooter in their tracks should the situation arise, but an easily accessible point by which employees can report any suspicious activity so that the situation can be neutralized before it becomes deadly.
When it comes to active shooter situations, other guard booth manufacturers simply can’t compete with the range of customizable security guard buildings offered by B.I.G. Enterprises. They can ensure that every workplace has the perfect guard building on-site to suit their unique needs and prevent tragedy before it happens.