Wayne State University Police Department Shares Active Shooter Protocols

DETROIT, MI — On Nov. 28, Ohio State University student Abdul Razak Ali Abdan plowed a Honda Civic into a crowd and went on a stabbing spree with a butcher knife, injuring 11 people, according to media reports. Abdan was shot dead by an Ohio State University officer minutes after the atrocious attack.

In light of the horrific event, how are Michigan schools prepared for a similar situation? Patch spoke with Lieutenant David Scott of the Wayne State University Police Department (WSUPD). One of Lieutenant Scott's roles is performing training sessions with students and other groups to prepare for an attack and he walked Patch through Wayne State University Safety Protocols and gave a rundown of WSUPD active shooting training and tactics.

Lieutenant Scott: I personally conduct Active Shooter training sessions for any Wayne State group on request. The training sessions last 45 minutes to an hour. My Active Shooter presentation to groups here at Wayne State covers how an unarmed citizen should respond to an Active Shooter incident. Three locations are covered - a public place (like a mall), a workplace (private business) and an educational setting.

Coincidentally (in light of what happened at Ohio State), I use another Active Shooter video, produced by Ohio State University. This video is very similar to the protocols used here at Wayne State - both in terms of our officer training, our emergency text message system and survival recommendations for our students. staff and faculty.

Lastly, during my training sessions, I advise the attendees how they (even though they may be unarmed) can quickly and effective defeat an armed and aggressive Active Shooter within 1 to 2 seconds after they come through the door, intent on shooting everyone in a room. That information is based on a training session created by a terrorism expert by the name of Alon Stivi.

Patch: Wayne State University's active shooter preparedness training dates back to 2007.

Lieutenant Scott: We have had Active Shooter preparedness training for our students, staff and faculty since 2008. We have been training our officers how to respond to such an incident since 2007. Wayne State University Police have a one-hour online training program called "Be Prepared: Surviving and Active Shooter Incident for faculty, staff and students.

Patch: WSUPD officers undergo intensive Active Shooter training in the event of an attack.

Lieutenant Scott: We routinely train all WSUPD Officers in how to quickly and effectively respond to and stop an Active Shooter. Our officers are trained, equipped, practiced and prepared to respond to any Active Shooter incident here on campus or in the greater Midtown area.

Wayne State University has an Emergency Broadcast messaging system that will enable us to quickly notify WSU students, staff and faculty (via text message) in the event of any emergency on campus - including Active Shooters. That text message will contains three important pieces of information. 1) What is happening, 2) Where it is happening, and 3) What the text message recipient should do about it. Text message updates, as soon as they are available, will follow-up the initial alert.

Special thanks to Lieutenant Scott for sharing his expertise.

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