Raider Ready - A Campus Safety Project

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Raider Ready:
A campus Safety Project
Santiago Hernandez, Pablo Villa-Martinez, Matt Taylor, Turner Sparks, Rafael Jurado,
Vincent Santini
Texas Tech University

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Abstract
An Active Shooter is a person that is actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people
in confined and heavily populated area. In 2007, an active shooter attacked Virginia Tech killing
30 students and leaving 17 injured. Students at Texas Tech University must be prepared in the
event of such a threat. They must do so in a quick, efficient way that will protect not only their
own lives, but that of their fellow Red Raiders. This proposal aims to ensure the chaos and
confusion created by an active shooter situation is mitigated, and the lives of students are saved.
By incorporating the insights of relevant disciplines found in education, psychology, and
organizational leadership a solution to these active shooter situations can be formed. Texas Tech
University will benefit from this proposal in that it will improve the overall preparedness through
implementation of these life-saving guidelines. Based on the research, we believe that this will
help improve the readiness of students at Texas Tech and, in turn, make the entire campus more
secure.

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Introduction
The incidence of active shooters has risen dramatically since 2000. According to the FBI
from 2000 to 2006 an active shooter incident occurred 6 times on an annual basis. The number
increased to 16 from 2006 to 2013. To understand the threat posed by the problem a clear definition
is needed. The FBI defines an active shooter as “an individual actively engaged in killing or
attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area” (FBI, 2014). With this understanding,
it is not difficult to call to mind the recent incidents of active shooters. The San Bernardino
shootings, the Washington Naval Yard, and Virginia Tech are only a small fragment of active
shooter incidents that have occurred in recent years. The last incident mentioned is most
concerning given the location. The shooting at the campus of Virginia Tech University highlighted
the vulnerability of college students in a very chaotic situation. Universities around the country
have sought ways to better protect students from potential acts of violence. The complexity of the
problem requires an interdisciplinary approach.
This proposal recommends the immediate implementation of policy to protect the lives of
students attending Texas Tech University. Texas Tech having the resources already in hand, should
require incoming first year students and transfer students to view “Shots Fired: When Lightning
Strikes”. To ensure compliance, the University should designate a portion the Freshman
Orientation checklist (FOC), and the Transfer Orientation Checklist (TOC) as Active Preparedness
Shooter Training (APST). Within the new module will be a link to the video “Shots Fired When
Lightning Strikes”. The solution provides school administrators an opportunity to further assure
parents they are taking every means to protect their children, while incurring few expenditures.
The University currently maintains a licensing agreement for the video and provides open access
to students, staff, and faculty through their eRadier accounts. The call for placement into the FOC

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and TOC stems from two distinct advantages gained from the proposal recommendation, the first
being exposure to the video. There is evidence to support the claim that while the University
provides open access to the video, there is no advertisement of its existence. Therefore students
are unaware of the resources available to them. The second advantage is assurance the student will
watch the video. By making the video a requirement, the same way the AlcoholEdu training is,
students will not be able to progress with orientation, thus ensuring compliance.
The recommendation is based largely on interdisciplinary research conducted in several
formats. The first was a literature review in which three disciplines played a key role in
determining how effective the recommendation would be. From the discipline of education, a
determination could be made as to whether video instruction would be a sufficient form of training
for such a complex problem. The discipline of psychology provided an understanding of the
personal benefits the students would gain from training. Finally, the discipline of organizational
leadership provided the rationale needed for administrators to implement the recommendation.
After the literature review, a survey was conducted of more than 30 students to gain a baseline
regarding preparedness, sense of security, and willingness to complete the training. Finally, a set
of interviews were conducted with relevant community leaders to determine the feasibility and
acceptance of the recommendation.
The results of the data collected are listed in the following pages.
Literature Review
The issue of preparedness for an active shooter incident requires an interdisciplinary
approach to ensure success. The first step in interdisciplinary research is identifying the most
relevant disciplines. The first viable discipline is psychology because as Johnson (2010) puts it,
“The best defense against an active shooter is to develop constant situational awareness” (p.1).

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Situational awareness is an understanding of a person’s surroundings and a state of mental
alertness. Psychology allows for the study of what the mental state of students is before and after
they watch the videos. The second discipline to be considered is education because “[r]esearch
into the actual and perceived effectiveness of ... safety education strategies is emerging and in its
infancy” (Snyder & Holder, 2015). Therefore the discipline of education will be vital in
understanding if training videos are the best educational tool to prepare students. The final
discipline of relevance is organizational leadership. Peterson et al. (2015) notes, “[p]ublic safety
departments have been tasked with training staff, faculty, and students to respond to an active
shooting event if it were to occur on campus”, this creates overlap in the organizational
hierarchy. Who will lead trainings, who will ensure everyone attends, and how will information
about the training be disseminated? Students, public safety departments, and academics each
have distinct organizational structures that need to be aligned.
Mentioned in the previous paragraph were five different informational sources. One was
a training booklet created by the Department of Homeland Security (Department, 2008). The
others were academic journals and websites that spoke to the current measures being taken to
prepare for an active shooter incident. There are two others that can provide valuable insight into
training themselves and others. Garrett (2007) notes that new training courses instruct police
officers to “assess the danger and if the danger is imminent, officers are instructed to move
toward the gunfire at a sustained pace to stop the active shooter”. This is a departure from
previous training that required officers to secure the building perimeter and wait for the SWAT
team to arrive (Garrett, 2007). As the police have changed how they react they have also changed
the way they train. The article by Garrett (2007) offers insight into how training for an active
shooter has changed and continues to evolve. Another article by Dolloff (2008) describes a

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practical training session held at a mall and how coordination between mall personnel and the
police was achieved. Dolloff (2008) further elaborates on the role of the police in an active
shooter situation and what people should expect from the police.
*There has not been an evaluation to determine the full impact of active shooter training
programs. However, Peterson, Sackrison, & Polland, (2015), compared student’s reactions to a
control video about school shootings with a training video. After watching either video, the
students were more concerned about a shooting occurring, but after watching the training video,
they felt more prepared for such a situation.
Higher education and safety go hand in hand when it comes to training and preparation to
avoid targeted forms of violence. Yet, there is a lack of training when it comes active shooter
situations. “Because active shooter situations are often over within 10 to 15 minutes, before law
enforcement arrives on the scene, individuals must be prepared both mentally and physically to
deal with an active shooter situation (G. Matthew Snyder and David E. Holder, 2015).” Snyder
and Holder (2015) provide information that informs on how to respond when an active shooter is
in your vicinity, how to react when law enforcement arrives, creating an emergency action plan,
and additional way to prepare for and prevent an active shooter situation.
According to Johnson (2016), just because you don’t think an active shooter incident can
happen to you doesn’t mean that it won’t. People need to be prepared for the situation in the case
that it arises. Johnson (2016) talks about what the mind-set should be, and the steps one should
take in case there is an active shooter to have the best chances of survival.
Ronnie Garrett (2007) writes on the topic of law enforcement response in the dynamic
phenomenon of "active shooters" in response to the shooting at Virginia Tech University. Prior to
recent shootings most police agencies relied on "hostage negotiation" style police response to

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active shooter situations. Since then, police are now encouraged to go towards the gunfire and
engage the threat directly, in hopes of eliminating the threat and reducing casualties. Unlike
decades before, the majority of these active shooters are trying to kill as many people as possible
and fully expect to die in the process. This is fundamental in understanding and reacting to these
threats and explains the change in tactics displayed by law enforcement. The National Tactical
Officer Association has come up with specific officer training to aids in response to active shooter
situations. It's imperative that campus police be given similar training to help contain any situations
that may arise in the campus's future.
A document from the Department of Homeland Security (2008) contains a list of actions
that can be taken in the event of an active shooter in an office environment. Included are
instructions on what to do and what to expect from responding police officers. The document also
covers what can possibly be done to manage staff after the incident, including the assessment of
the psychological conditions of the employees.
Fox and Savage (2009) give a broad review of current training techniques used in higher
education settings to prepare students for an active shooter. Fox and Savage (2009) examine the
efficiency of the techniques and how they might be changed. They also describe the difference
between shootings on college campuses and those that occur on high school and middle school
campuses.
Methodology
For the purposes of this research project, a literature review, interviews, and a quantitative
survey were conducted. The intentions of the literature review were to determine if schools utilized
any type of Active Shooter Preparedness Training (ASPT) and to find information on what
qualifies as training. Should ASPT simply include an informational video, or should drills be

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conducted to test the preparedness of students in an active shooter situation? It was found that
FEMA offers an ASPT certification course entirely online. This certification consists of
approximately 30-40 minutes of videos and quizzes that inform people on how to handle an active
shooter situation and how to interact with law enforcement once they arrive on scene. The
information found in this review was the basis for a survey used to determine student readiness.
After the literature review, interviews were conducted with law enforcement officers. The
intent of these interviews were to better understand the roles of officers during an active shooter
scenario, and what citizens should do to help protect themselves. The responses received backed
up the information obtained from the FEMA certification course. These interviews along with the
literature review helped form the questions used for the survey.
The survey was made up of seven questions that determined students’ preparedness for an
active shooter situation. Multiple choice and Likert scale questions were used to gather data. This
information is imperative to understanding the need for active shooter training. If students feel safe
on campus already and aren’t concerned about an active shooter, then the potential costs may not
warrant the training. However, if students felt they could be safer, or would like to at least be more
prepared in an active shooter situation, then they may be willing to take steps toward mitigating
the cost of the training.
Interviews
The literature previously discussed supports current methods for interacting with and
active shooter based on interviews conducted with members of Texas Tech Police Department.
Typical civilians in active shooter situations panic and hinder the police and their effectiveness.
When they see the police officer, victims beg them for help because they believe that the officers
could aid in their evacuation. An officers job is to take down the threat first, then tend to the

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civilians. The civilians need to take responsibility for themselves and tend to their own safety. In
order to do this, the police have issued certain guidelines to civilians in an effort to make this
possible.
The first thing is to escape the unsafe area as quickly and efficiently as possible. Stay
hidden from the shooter and any possible danger zones the best way possible. If the opportunity
presents itself, try to help others as well. The second thing on the active shooter safety priority
list should be to find a safe place. If escaping is not possible, find or create a safe place for
yourself and others that are close by. Block the entrances and slow down a possible entry from
the shooter as much as possible. Hide from any parts of the room that can be seen from the
inside. The third priority on the list should be to fight. If the first and second option fail, and the
active shooter finds possible hostages, they must do what they can to survive. Cooperate with the
shooter as much as possible until an opportunity presents itself to where you can disarm and
reduce the danger the shooter presents to the people around him. In an active shooter situation,
everyone must do what they can to survive, and let the police do their job.
There are different types of training available for civilians who want to be prepared for
these kinds of situations. It is always better to be prepared than to be the one making the situation
worse.
Results
In response to the rise in active shooters, research has been conducted to prevent or
mitigate this horrible act of violence. Using the research gathered from the literature review, a
quantitative survey was created to gauge the students’ knowledge of how police officers are trained
to act in an active shooter situation. The survey also measured the amount of time a student would
be willing to spend on a single training session, as well as how much money a student would spend

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on a single training session. Below is the summarized analysis of the survey with a sample size of
32 current and active students of Texas Tech University.
Figure 1.
In figure 1, the question was designed to gauge the level of preparedness a student feels in
the case of an active shooter situation. Based on the results, the graph is skewed to the right with
a peak of 13 out of 32 students indicating that 40% of the sample size feels unsafe and unprepared
for an active shooter situation. This question resulted in a calculated average of 6.4 students,
slightly greater than the mode which is shown to be what most of the students choose. The
conclusion of the analysis shows that the average amount of students feel less prepared and unsafe
for an active shooter situation compared to most students.

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Figure 2
Figure 2 shows the results of what students understand the responsibilities of police officers
should be. This question was designed in reference to the research conducted which all concluded
that the police officers main objective was to “stop the active shooter as soon as possible
(Department of Homeland Security, 2008).” Our research indicates that only 53.1% of the sample
size understands the true responsibility of police officers as opposed to the rest of the 46.9%. Of
the 46.9%, 28.1% of those students believe officers are there to help with the evacuation. Twelve
and a half per cent (4 students) believe officers responsibilities are to provide aid, and the last 6.3%
believe that the officer is responsible to wait for the S.W.A.T. team. According to the article,
“Active shooter: How to respond”, the responsibility of the first responding officers is not to help
injured persons but to stop the shooter. The conclusion of this result shows that students need better
understanding of the responsibilities of police officers.

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Figure 3
Figure 3 provides a summarized pie chart of the results for the question designed to gauge
the understanding of how students should interact with police. According to the research
conducted, the best way to interact with authorities is to remain calm, keep hands visible, and make
no sudden movements. The survey shows that 59.4% of the sample size, or 19 students understand
the proper interactions with the authorities. The research conducted shows that the remaining
40.6% or 13 students can cause a negative impact on the efficiency of the authorities to stop the
active shooter. The conclusion indicates that 40% of students need better understanding of how to
properly interact with police officers.

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Figure 4
The question shown in figure 4 was designed to show if students believed if the school
should provide active shooter training for first year and transfer student. Based on the result a
conclusion can be made that 80.6% of students believe that Texas Tech University should provide
active shooter training for first year and transfer students
Figure 5

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Figure 5 was designed to show if students had knowledge of Texas Tech University’s
provided training video. Based on the results, only 9.4% of the sample size has seen the provided
video. This question ties into the previous question of 80.6% of students believing that a training
video should be provided. Whereas 75% of the sample size was not aware of the provided video
which correlates to a lack of advertising. A conclusion can be made that the provided video is not
in an accessible and easy to find location.
Figure 6
Figure 6 shows the result of how much time a student would be willing to spend on a single
training session. The results show 62.5% of the sample size would be willing to take 20 minutes
of their time for a single training session. Whereas, 15.6% would not be willing to spend time on
a single training session. Based on the results, a conclusion of having a training session anywhere
in between 5 minutes to 20 minutes would be beneficial to 90.6% of the sample size who are

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willing to spend time out of their day to be trained for a single training session.
Figure 7
The last question on the survey shown in Figure 7, shows the results of students when
asked how much they were willing to spend on a onetime fee for training. It can be stated from
the results shown above that a little less than half of the sample size (46.9% of students) would
not be willing to spend anything on a onetime fee. As opposed to 53.1% of students would be
willing to spend an average of about $4.50 up to $10.00 for a onetime fee for training. Further
research has also concluded that a cost for placing the video in an easy to find and accessible
location would have a minimal cost making the provided video a simple yet effective tool to
prepare students for active shooter situations.
To conclude all results of the survey. It can be stated that the average amount of students
feel less prepared and unsafe for an active shooter situation compared to most students. Most
students need better understanding the responsibilities of police officers. As well as need a better
understanding of how to properly interact with police officers.

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More than half of the sample size believe that Texas Tech University should provide active
shooter training for first year and transfer students, however 75% of the sample size was not aware
of the Texas Tech provided video which shows a correlation to a lack of advertising and also shows
that the provided video is not in an accessible area and easy to find location. Based on the results,
a conclusion of having a training sessions anywhere in between 5 minutes to 20 minutes would be
beneficial to 90.6% of the sample size who are willing to spend time out of their day to be trained
for a single training session as well as 53.1% of students would be willing to spend an average of
about $4.50 up to $10.00 for a onetime fee for training. Further research has also concluded that a
cost for placing the video in a easy to find and accessible location would have a minimal cost
making the provided video a simple yet effective tool to prepare students for active shooter
situations.
Recommendations
Over half of students surveyed felt unprepared, or very unprepared for an active shooter
situation. While the remaining students may feel various levels of preparedness, further in the
survey the majority of students don’t currently know the role of police officers or what they should
do during an Active shooter situation. Unfortunately research, data, and history have shown that
most college students aren’t prepared for these situations. Through literature searches, police
interviews, and surveying Texas Tech students, this research provides a list of recommendations
for the University.
While many of the campus’s faculty have limited training for active shooter situations,
nearly all the students have little or no training. The survey found that most students want active
shooter training and are willing to pay up to $10.00 for it. While this sounds promising, 75% of
students were unaware that Texas Tech already hosted a video that described how one should act

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during such a situation. The survey suggests that students believe that incoming freshmen and
transfer students should at the very least have to watch this video in order to prepare for such a
situation. With that in mind, Texas Tech should require incoming first year students and transfer
students to view “Shots Fired: When Lightning Strikes”. To ensure compliance, the University
should designate a portion the Freshman Orientation checklist (FOC), and the Transfer Orientation
Checklist (TOC) as Active Preparedness Shooter Training (APST).
Educating faculty and students about what the role of officers and what they should be
doing is explained well by Lt. Erick Williams of the Texas Tech Police Department. He suggests
that students realize officers are there to neutralize the threat first and foremost and that students
need to take cover, or remain hidden so as not to become endangered by the shooter and officers
alike. This discrepancy between what students perceive as the officer’s job and what police will
actually do, seriously endangers the lives of everyone involved and is further proof that incoming
students would greatly benefit from mandatory training. At the very least, this training should
include watching a video and perhaps going as far as testing. Many students were unwilling or
reluctant to pay even a small, or marginal fee for active shooter training. This idea underscores the
expectations students hold for the University to maintain their safety while attending classes. As
will be explained in the next section, the cost is minimal, and students expectations justify the
University incurring the expense.
Costs and Benefits
The cost to adjust the check lists to host training for incoming students is very minimal.
Whether a student assistant or a full time faculty member is assigned to make the adjustments, the
initial cost would be about $12 for an hour of work. When this is divided among a full years work,

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the cost is less than a penny per hour as maintenance of the website will be almost no extra work
needed. Texas Tech University already has the video that would be used in the training, so extra
expenses would not be required to provide this training to students.
There are several benefits of providing this training for Texas Tech University students.
First, students will now know what procedure to follow in case of an active shooter situation.
From our survey, it is clear that most students don’t realize that the university actually has a video
for them to watch that is very helpful in training how to react. This training will help in having the
most survivors and less injured.
Another benefit to the university is raising money. Even at a minimum of $5 per student in
tuition, with an enrollment of 35,893 in 2015, that results in $179,465 of extra income for the
university per year. Student enrollment is increasing each year, so this would increasing as well,
and would easily take care of recuperating the $12 it takes to adjust the freshman and transfer
orientation checklists.
The most significant benefit in active shooter awareness training would be the possibility
to save lives. If the need would arise, the students on campus would have the training to know
what to do. Lives can be saved simply by students knowing where to hide or run instead of having
to figure it out on the spot as the situation is happening.
Conclusion
The results of the studies support the call for including the Shots Fired: When Lightning
Strikes video in the FOC and TOC. The evidence further demonstrates the measure to be cost
effective as the University already possess the necessary components. The support of local leaders,
including the Texas Tech University Police Department, indicates a uniformed understanding of

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the impact the recommendation can have on the University as a whole. This small measure, if
implemented, can save the lives of Red Raiders and be model to other intuitions.

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References
Dolloff, A. (February, 2008). Police, Bangor Mall team up to be ready if violence strikes. Bangor
Daily News (ME).
Department of Homeland Security. (2008). Active shooter: How to respond. Washington DC: US
Government Printing Office.
Fox, J. A., & Savage, J. (2009). Mass murder goes to college: An examination of changes on
college campuses following Virginia Tech. American Behavioral Scientist, (10), 1465.
Garrett, R. (2007). Marching to the sound of gunshots [Abstract]. Law Enforcement Technology,
34(6), 54-63.
G. Matthew Snyder and David E. Holder, “The Effects of Active Shooter Resilience Training
Programs on College Students’ Perceptions of Personal Safety,” The Police Chief 82
(March 2015): 56–61.
Johnson, O., Carlson, P., Murphy, B., Flory, D., Lankford, B., & Wyllie, D. (2016). Preparing
Civilians to Survive an Active Shooter Event. Journal Of Law Enforcement, 5(2), 1-13.
Peterson, J., Sackrison, E., & Polland, A. (2015). Training students to respond to shootings on
campus: Is it worth it? Journal Of Threat Assessment And Management, 2(2), 127-138.

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