Active Attacker Incident Information

Safety Guidelines Active Attacker Situation on Campus

Most often you will hear the term Active Shooter. However, with the rise of other means being used, the official term has become Active Attacker. Active Attacker covers active shooters as well as any person actively seeking to do harm to others regardless of the means.

How you respond to an active shooter will be dictated by the specific circumstances of the encounter. If you find yourself involved in an active shooter situation, try to remain calm and call 911 or 207-780-5211 as soon as possible.

An active shooter is a person or persons who appear to be actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people, and in most cases are bearing a firearm(s). Active shooter situations are dynamic and evolve rapidly, demanding an immediate response by the community, and the immediate deployment of Public Safety to prevent/stop the attack and limit harm to the community. This document provides guidance for faculty, staff, and students, and describes what to expect from Public Safety in an active shooter situation. Be aware that as in all emergencies, the 911 system may become overwhelmed.

For additional information see the Guidelines noted below and refer to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “Active Shooter How to Respond” guide (pdf) as well as the video “Shots Fired On Campus“.

If you would like to have Public Safety conduct an Active Attacker training and safety consult please fill out this FORM.

Guidelines

If an active shooter is outside your building or inside the building you are in, you should:

• Try to remain calm.
• Proceed to a room that can be locked or barricaded. Warn other faculty, staff, and students on your way to take immediate shelter.
• Lock and barricade doors or windows.
• Turn off the lights.
• Close blinds.
• Turn off radios or other devices that emit sound.
• Keep yourself out of sight, stay away from windows, and take adequate cover/protection, i.e. concrete walls, thick desks, and filing cabinets.
• Silence cell phones.
• Have one person Call 207-780-5211 or 911 and provide:
  • “This is (give your name) I am in (give your location) and we have an active shooter on campus.”
  • If you were able to see the offender(s), give a description of the person(s) gender, race, clothing, type of weapon(s), location last observed, the direction of travel, and identity – if known.
  • If you observed any victims, give a description of the location and number of victims.
  • If you observed any suspicious devices, provide the location observed and a description.
  • If you heard any explosions, provide a description and location.
• Wait patiently until a uniformed police officer or a university official provides an “all clear.”
• Unfamiliar voices may be an active shooter trying to lure you from safety; do not respond to voice commands until you can verify with certainty that they are being issued by a police officer or university official.
• Attempts to rescue people should only be attempted if it can be accomplished without further endangering the persons inside a secured area.
• Depending on circumstances, consideration may also be given to exiting ground floor windows as safely and quietly as possible.

If an active shooter enters your office or classroom, you should:

• Try not to do anything that will provoke the active attacker.
• If there is no possibility of escape or hiding, only as a last resort when it is imminent that your life is in danger should you make a personal choice to attempt to negotiate with or overpower the assailant(s).
• Call 911 or 207-780-5211, if possible, and provide the information listed in the first guideline.
• If the active attacker(s) leaves the area, barricade the room or proceed to a safer location.

If you are in an outside area and encounter an active shooter, you should:

• Try to remain calm.
• Move away from the active shooter or the sounds of gunshot(s) and/or explosion(s).
• Look for appropriate locations for cover/protection, i.e. brick walls, retaining walls, large trees, parked vehicles, or any other object that may stop bullet penetration.
• Try to warn other faculty, staff, students, and visitors to take immediate shelter.
• Call 911 or 207-780-5211 and provide the following information:
  • “This is (give your name) I am in (give your location) and we have an active shooter on campus.”
  • If you were able to see the offender(s), give a description of the person(s) gender, race, clothing, type of weapon(s), location last observed, the direction of travel, and identity – if known.
  • If you observed any victims, give a description of the location and number of victims.
  • If you observed any suspicious devices, provide the location observed and a description.
  • If you heard any explosions, provide a description and location.
• Attempts to rescue people should only be attempted if it can be accomplished without further endangering the persons inside a secured area.

What to expect from Public Safety

The objectives of responding police officers are:

• Immediately engage or contain the active shooter(s) in order to stop life-threatening behavior.
• Call in necessary additional agencies and first responders
• Identify threats such as improvised explosive devices.
• Identify victims to facilitate medical care, interviews, and counseling.
• Investigation

Police officers responding to an active shooter are trained to proceed immediately to the area in which shots were last heard in order to stop the shooting as quickly as possible. The first responding officers may be in teams; they may be dressed in normal patrol uniforms, or they may be wearing external ballistic vests and Kevlar helmets or other tactical gear. The officers may be armed with rifles, shotguns, or handguns. Do exactly as the officers instruct. The first responding officers will be focused on stopping the active shooter and creating a safe environment for medical assistance to be brought in to aid the injured.

If you would like a copy of these instructions you can download this Safety Guidelines PDF.