Certain challenges consistently surface when agencies prepare for active shooter incidents — aligning school protocols with law enforcement response, securing large community events, integrating real-time intelligence and navigating command transitions. Those same themes rose to the top during a recent Police1 webinar, where participants asked pointed, practical questions drawn from real training and operational gaps.
Thanks to webinar moderator Chief Terry Nichols for providing the following detailed responses.
| WATCH ON-DEMAND: Active shooter response: The patrol officer’s complete toolkit
Coordinating training with schools
Why this matters: Agencies continue to struggle with aligning school emergency protocols with law enforcement response expectations.
Question: I would like to learn about how various agencies integrate training with schools.
Preparing, training and practicing with local schools, both public and private, are key long before a tragic incident occurs. It is critically important for not only school personnel to know and understand law enforcement and other emergency responders’ response protocols and priorities, but it is just as important for emergency responders to know and understand the school’s response protocols to a violent event.
Many schools across the United States have adopted the I Love U Guys Standard Response Protocol (SRP) as part of their overall emergency preparedness plans. With this national model, key words have specific meaning and actions. Words matter. In the case of “Lockdown,” in which there is a direct threat inside the school, the actions taught to students and staff are “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight.”
Upon entering a school building that uses the SRP and is placed in Lockdown status, absent a driving force like active gunfire, responders are likely to encounter empty hallways, locked doors and an eerie silence. This tragically played out in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary. In post-incident investigative interviews with first responders, many spoke of the quiet and lack of screaming, yelling and running away from the school. This led many to mistakenly believe that school was not in session or there were no children in the school at that time.
A natural conduit to facilitate this type of preparation is often the school resource officer(s). If there is no formal relationship between the school(s) and local law enforcement, local agencies should reach out and take the first step in coming together to start a dialogue about these critical response plans from both perspectives. Start with communicating with each other, then move to planning, conduct joint training, practice and then exercise the plans and response strategies developed from the training.
One extreme word of caution when conducting exercises at or with school personnel or any civilian organization: Our desired outcome is for our communities to be emergency prepared, not emergency scared. Unannounced active shooter drills involving response by law enforcement, stress-inducing actions like using a blank gun and banging on doors and windows simulating an intruder, for example, can have devastating effects leading to trauma, anxiety and in several cases civil litigation against an agency. Organizations like the National Center for Integrated Emergency Response can assist communities with creating and conducting full-scale HSEEP (Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program) compliant exercises for their schools.
Securing parades and community events
Why this matters: Community celebrations remain vulnerable targets, especially for vehicle-based attacks.
Question: What are some thoughts about closing roads for parades and community events?
Communities across our nation celebrate different events every year — from July 4 parades, Thanksgiving parades, holiday events and countless local celebrations. As we tragically observed most recently on January 1, 2025, in New Orleans, these celebrations can turn deadly very quickly, with actors using vehicles as weapons.
We can likely never secure and block absolutely every entry point into a parade route with police vehicles. However, we can think outside of the box and use other blocking vehicles such as large trash trucks, front-end loaders, dump trucks, fire trucks and any other resource a community might have at their disposal.
Securing streets for parades and festivals is certainly a best practice and one that should be taken seriously. Aside from preplanning blocking and attempting to secure potential attack avenues, preplanning should also include actual attack response protocols. These types of events are excellent opportunities for police and Fire/EMS to work together creating Rescue Task Forces (RTFs) pre-staged for any type of emergency. It is an opportunity to plan, communicate and actually work side-by-side with other services before a major critical incident occurs.
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Real-time surveillance access for dispatch
Why this matters: Dispatchers often hold the first actionable intelligence — but access and training vary by jurisdiction.
Question: What are some considerations for dispatch having real-time surveillance access to schools and hospitals?
During critical incidents like an active shooter event, the more intelligence responders can gain the better, especially during the initial response phase. Live-streaming video from within a crisis site is an invaluable asset for responders. As technology improves year after year, it will likely be something most communities will have access to sooner rather than later, with many having that access currently.
As with anything new — especially technology — there should be a strong focus on not only training on the technology (how to use), but actually practicing using the technology during a response exercise. For schools, this does not have to be just an active shooter exercise. Maybe set up a simulated medical emergency at the school, an aggressive animal on the playground or a car fire near the freshman wing of the school. Practice using the technology, orienting to the locations and camera angles, and then how to communicate that information to responding personnel. If there is a way to push that live-feed video to responders, practice that as well.
Technology is constantly improving and changing. Companies like SaferMobility provide a platform where people calling 911 are live-streaming video from the cameras on their phone while also geo-locating them within feet of their location on a map. Being able to see what is occurring prior to arrival is certainly an asset and a direction we are definitely moving towards.
Tourniquets and IFAKs
Why this matters: Officers still face uneven access to lifesaving medical tools despite years of evidence from combat and law enforcement.
Question: Why does this not seem to be a priority for some agencies, and why should officers continue to invest in their own equipment?
There has been a huge shift in the past 10–15 years with agencies recognizing the importance of equipping their staff with these life-saving tools. Having said that, there are still places across the country that either simply cannot afford to outfit their staff with medical adjuncts, or possibly they still do not see the value in this investment with limited resources at their disposal.
For tourniquets specifically, we can all agree these are life-saving adjuncts that every officer should carry on their person and be well trained in how to apply one (or more). If an agency does not provide this for their officers, I believe it is in the officers’ best interest to purchase it themselves. Ideal? No. However, it is something that could save your life, or an innocent victim of a violent crime, a car crash or a freak accident involving yourself or even a family member.
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We all spend our personal money on coffee, meals, treats or hobbies like fishing, hunting, golfing or shooting sports. Maybe skip that coffee, latte or eating out a few times and save up to buy your own tourniquet(s) or IFAK kit.
Law enforcement leadership should universally recognize the value in having these life-saving tools in the hands of officers. Unfortunately, budget priorities change over time and these things often get forgotten about or lost in the shuffle. We owe it to ourselves to be prepared to help save our own life, our fellow officers and certainly the community we serve. No matter which way you acquire these types of medical adjuncts, get the appropriate training on when and how to use them. Your local Fire/EMS service would be a great place to start.
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Transitioning to Unified Command
Why this matters: Command transitions can either streamline operations — or stall them — depending on timing and clarity.
Question: As an incident transitions from a single Incident Commander to a Unified Command, should that original Incident Commander be part of the new Unified Command team or replaced with someone of a higher rank?
During an active shooter/attacker event, law enforcement should be in Command during the initial stages. Fire/EMS assumes the Medical Branch during this initial response. Training, practice, exercises and real-world events have proven that jumping immediately into a Unified Command posture during the initial phases of an active shooter/attacker slows down the tactical response and ultimately slows down the recovery and evacuation of the wounded.
The Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) checklist, a national best practice, recognizes these limitations and focuses on transitioning to Unified Command as the incident stabilizes (i.e., all viable patients have been transported from the scene). The ASIM model has the Incident Commander transition to the Operations Chief position when moving into Unified Command, with higher-ranking (or possibly equal-ranking) personnel arriving to work in the Unified Command group. This new Operations Chief has situational awareness of what has been happening up to that point and is a natural fit to assume this position, with the Law Enforcement Branch Director and Medical Branch Director reporting up to the Operations Section Chief. Incident objectives, as determined by the Unified Command team, will be delegated to the Operations Chief or Intelligence/Investigations Section Chief for execution.
The original Incident Commander could stay and transition into the Unified Command team; however, the Operations Chief position would need to be filled, and it would ideally be someone with rank who has been involved in the operation and has the situational awareness of what has transpired up to that point.
Tactical takeaways
- Align school and law enforcement lockdown terminology
- Pre-stage Rescue Task Forces for community events
- Practice using live video tools during exercises
- Ensure officers have immediate access to tourniquets and IFAKs
- Establish clear, disciplined transitions to Unified Command
Closing
These questions reflect the recurring challenges facing agencies as they refine their active shooter response models. The discussion makes one thing clear: readiness is not a single tactic but a coordinated system — one built on communication, realistic training and shared understanding across disciplines. Chief Nichols’ insights underline where agencies can focus their efforts as they continue to strengthen preparedness.
About Chief Terry Nichols
Terry Nichols retired as chief of police in Seguin, Texas, following more than 30 years in law enforcement. He previously served as chief in Brownwood, Texas, and was a founding member and Assistant Director of Texas State University’s ALERRT Center, where he helped secure more than $40 million in grant funding and trained over 90,000 officers nationwide.
Terry is widely recognized for his contributions to law enforcement training, incident management, and emergency preparedness. He has served on national committees, worked with the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, and is an experienced public speaker and author on active shooter response and officer safety. He continues to contribute to public safety as the immediate past executive director and vice president of C3 Pathways.
