Six months ago several locals participated in a "train the trainer" class presented by the ALICE Institute and held at Chinook High. Since that first introduction to the protocols associated with ALICE training (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate), trainers for both Blaine County and Chinook Schools have been conducting drills to teach staff and students at schools and county employees how to deal with an active shooter situation.

Since the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, when aggressors first entered a school, ideas about how to deal with an active shooter changed. ALICE protocols were developed based on "probabilities, not possibilities" as researchers began developing responses that involved physiological and psychological interruptions to a shooter's thought pattern and how to take advantage of those interruptions.

The ALICE Institute developed responses based on the analysis of many of the school shootings since Columbine. Researchers discovered, for example, that 60% of active shooter events were over before law enforcement arrived, 15% of the events were effectively stopped by unarmed citizens and fleeing the scene made sense as most active shooters acted alone. The responses used in the ALICE training were developed on this and related research.

Courthouse employees work ALICE drills

Undersheriff Frank Billmayer, who helped organize last spring's train the trainer program, recently was involved with training for courthouse employees learning the ALICE protocols. He said, "We began with what once was the traditional response to an active shooter situation-barricade and wait for law enforcement to arrive." That response was based on drive by shootings, the most common shooting events before 1999.

In three additional drills, using the ALICE protocols, courthouse employees learned ways to engage and disrupt a shooter's plans. Tracking casualties on a white board as the drills developed, Billmayer said, "We could show with real time data how the responses developed by the ALICE Institute saved lives and resolved the situation more quickly."

Schools teach faculty and students ALICE-developed responses

Faye Friede, a counselor at Chinook High, is also the head of Chinook Schools' Crisis Team. She, and some other Chinook faculty, were in the original train the trainer program held last spring. She described how the schools are responding. Friede explained, "With some help from the sheriff's office we divided our students and faculty into several groups, then used others trained in the ALICE Institute's techniques to introduce our schools to ways they can respond to an active shooter. Already this fall we've had one short drill and plan additional ones during the year."

Recently Friede and Robin Allen, a CHS teacher and ALICE instructor, were invited to Big Sandy schools to observe a drill staged there that also involved local EMS and how they could be incorporated in an active shooter incident. Friede said, "Big Sandy is very active in planning and training to deal with an active shooter event. They do not use the ALICE Institute's protocols, but we learned a lot observing how they used their local EMS folks (Emergency Medical Services) in their drill." Friede added she hopes that a more inclusive drill, with EMS participation, can be organized for the spring in Chinook Schools. She said that observers from Big Sandy would be invited to watch the Chinook drills and offer suggestions on ways to better deal with a potential shooter.

The ALICE Institute, started fifteen years ago by a Dallas policeman and his wife, who was a school principal, is still researching and tweaking the responses the teach for dealing with active shooters. Of a threat to schools from an active shooter, Faye Fried said, "Unfortunately it is a fact of life we have to deal with. Our best defense is to prepare our students and staff to respond and keep parents of our students informed about what we are doing."

Recent events at Flathead Valley schools, with threats, have reminded Montanans that threats can exist at any place and any time. The ALICE protocols were designed "to empower citizens with the skills and knowledge to respond when shots are fired...to help themselves until public safety officers arrive." The Blaine County Sheriff's Office will work with organizations to help them be better prepared for a potential active shooter situation.