Businesses in Arkansas Confront Shooter Scenario

The alarm rang out on a stormy Sunday night, rattling employees at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and conjuring up two words that strike fear in modern American life: “active shooter.” The “Code Black” alert in early May was a false alarm. No gunman was active. But the fact that such an alarm exists at UAMS attests to how the world has changed since the Columbine attack of 1999 and the long string of shootings that have followed at schools, universities and workplaces. Many Arkansas businesses and institutions now have reaction plans for mass shootings, and some training goes beyond the federal government’s basic run-and-hide recommendations. Several companies, including the electric utility Entergy, have mandatory programs to prepare employees for cases of violence, and two security firms are licensed by the state to provide active-shooter training to private enterprises, according to the Arkansas State Police. One of those firms, Get Trained Be Ready of Searcy, teaches concealed-carry permit holders how to react with lethal force if faced with a gunman at the workplace, in church or elsewhere. Schools, government agencies and hospitals, which often have their own security forces, were among the first to adopt mass-shooter procedures. But now office buildings, retail centers and businesses are increasingly preparing. “Within the last year we’ve made an extra effort to teach our employees what to do if ...
Source: Arkansas Business - Health Care - Category: American Health Source Type: news