The tragic rise in active threat events (deadly attacks) has led to a great deal of effort towards finding effective countermeasures and solutions. However, the sad truth is that many of these initiatives, while possibly well-intentioned, are more effective at making money or advancing careers than they are at solving problems. The new Special Tactics Active Threat Survival Essentials course intends to take the opposite approach. To give citizens, security personnel and law enforcement officers the most simple, essential, commonsense tools and concepts that will have the most direct impact when it comes to saving lives.

The first two installments of our four-part article on school/church defense focused on the importance of integrating on-site armed guards and auxiliary security/support personnel with local law enforcement and offered seven suggestions for employing armed guards for school defense. This article deals with the incorporation of “auxiliary security assets” into the overall security plan. While this article references “school security,” the same principles can be applied to church security and other community facilities.

The last article on school and church defense focused on the importance of integrating three elements into a cohesive plan of action: On-site armed guards, auxiliary security/support personnel and local law enforcement. In this second part of the 4-part article, we will focus on seven suggestions for employing armed guards for school defense and how to integrate those guards into a larger plan/drill for responding to a deadly attack.

The Special Tactics staff offers our prayers for the victims of the tragic school massacre in Uvalde, Texas and for the families who lost loved ones. Unfortunately, it seems clear that we have not seen the end of this rising trend of violent attacks. We want to do everything we can to help prevent future killings or at the very least reduce their number. Several years ago we published a 4-part article series (on our old website) covering Tactical School/Church Security and Active Shooter Response. We are re-publishing that article series here starting with the first part on an “Integrated Approach” to security.