By Lisa Carolin
Because of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in December of 2012, which resulted in the deaths of 27 people, the strategy for what to do in such a situation has changed.
School districts in Michigan were solely using a lockdown procedure prior to the shooting at Sandy Hook. Now many law enforcement agencies, including those in Washtenaw County, are working with school districts to advocate for a strategy known as A.L.I.C.E., an acronym that stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office has worked with administrators in both the Dexter and Chelsea school districts to learn about ALICE. They’ve come to the districts to both lecture and set up scenarios about what to do in the event a shooter enters a school.
On March 13, two of the leads in that effort – Sarena Shivers, assistant superintendent of Student Achievement and Services at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, and Derrick Jackson, director of Community Engagement for the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office – met with people from around the county, who were interested in learning more about ALICE.
“We’re starting with the public schools but also reaching out to private schools, businesses, government offices and more to train people,” said Jackson. “We need to train law enforcement officials in the same way so that there is uniformity.”
“We’ve partnered up with dispatch (911 operators) to incorporate ALICE,” said Shivers, “We can’t risk lives being lost because we’re worried about scaring people.”
The “A” in ALICE is for Alert, meaning to call 911 as soon as possible and give the 911 operator as much information as possible.
The “L” is for Lockdown. “Give people an explanation of why you are doing a lockdown,” said Jackson. “A lockdown provides a time barrier.”
“I” is for Inform, as in continuing the alert and continuing to provide real time information.
“C” is for Counter. “We’re not training anyone to disarm someone,” said Jackson. “We want them to use distraction techniques like noise, movement and distance.”
Jackson and Shivers said that passivity and freezing are behaviors more likely to make people victims of a shooter.
“E” is for Evacuate, as in providing a building’s occupants the ability and authority to evacuate.
Washtenaw County Law Enforcement officials have access to the floor plans of nearly every school in the county now. That, along with a policy change in which law enforcement officials go into the school and attempt to engage a shooter a lot sooner than they used to, are also part of the new strategy.
“It’s about minimizing deaths and injuries,” explained Shivers, who says that learning and teaching ALICE has changed her. “I pay attention to my surroundings in a way I didn’t before.”
Shivers and Jackson will host another forum about active shooter training on Thursday, March 27 at 6 p.m. at the Ypsilanti District Library at 5577 Whittaker Road.
To learn more about ALICE training, contact Shivers at [email protected].
I would like to comment that I think it is a shame that the acronym chosen for this initiative is a little girls name. I’m sure my daughter Alice, who is a sweet 5 year old little girl in the Dexter School district, is not going to appreciate being associated with this training. Those responsible for coming up with this training program should have taken into consideration the fact that people are named Alice.