UWS to hold drills for shooting situations

The University of Wisconsin-Superior reacted to the tragedy in Newtown with an open campus forum Thursday on what to do if a shooter was on campus.

UWS Public Safety Director Gary Gulbrandson played the video “Run, Hide, Fight” to students and faculty. He said they have to use all options in a life-threatening situation.

“For many years often times lockdown was the only thing that was ever practiced or taught in the workplace or in the schools,” Gulbrandson said. “We would never ever expect somebody to lockdown if they had an opportunity to escape the danger.”

So the first option is to run. Superior Police Department Sergeant Chris Kirchoff says that by the time police get there, the shooting has already started.

“It takes time to assemble a team and to deploy and to respond,” Kirchoff said. “And in an active shooter scenario, statistically once it starts one person is killed every 15 seconds. By the time our tac team would get there, well that’s just too slow.”

The second option is to hide and the last is to fight the shooter.

UWS Chancellor Renee Wachter says everyone has to learn what to do, and they plan to hold drills in February one building at a time.

“You won’t know what time exactly that will take place but it will be posted on the door of the building, several days before that building is scheduled to have that drill,” Wachter said. “And there will be a four or five minute testing drill to actually have you practice and think about how you are going to react if a situation happens.”

The first drill is set for Feb. 11.

Wisconsin Public Radio can be heard locally on 91.3 KUWS-FM and online at www.wpr.org.

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