TacOne Training comes to the valley

The sound of gunshots echoing off of lockers and traveling down the hallways of the Saratoga Middle High School, dropped a veil of reality over the participants. Given the realism of the scenario as the incident played out, it would be no surprise if those taking part were impacted in some way, reminded of what has happened in the past decades in schools across the country.

This presentation was led by Joe Deedon the founder and president of TacOne Consulting.  TacOne Consulting is a company that trains law enforcement, school staff, parents, and students how to respond in a public shooting situation. 

The training took place for a week throughout Carbon County School District #2 and included all students, staff and Law Enforcement. The training on Friday at the Saratoga Middle High School started in the cafeteria with an in depth powerpoint presentation led by Deedon. He explained what the training was about and how to use it properly in an emergency situation.  

After the powerpoint presentation was complete the staff members of the school district went into the gym to learn the proper technique to take down a gunman. One of the techniques the staff learned was when the gunman approaches from the side, swing your arm back and hit him in the stomach. The next step is to encircle the shooter's arm that is holding the gun to clamp your arms around the shooter's arm.  Next, try to take the gunman to the ground or put your hip into him, using your body weight until someone else comes to help take him down to the ground.  

After learning hand to hand defense against a gunman the staff then went through a simulated school shooting situation in the hallways of the school. The staff was divided into different groups where they had to apply decision making skills to either barricade themselves in a room, lock the doors, turn off the lights, and/or get away from the windows. If possible, leave the building and get far away from the school. Find cover to be out of sight of the school windows.  

TacOne training provided the communities of Carbon County School District #2 the opportunity to learn how to respond if an active shooter were to be in one of the local schools.   The training teaches everyone present what angles to take when trying to evacuate a building, how to use lighting to our advantage in the hallways, where to go if leaving an emergency exit to be out of view of a shooter, and most importantly how to react during a terrifying situation.

The training taught options that you have in an active shooting situation. Using a wheel to illustrate the various choices, Deedon illustrated how a choice can be made.

The wheel consists of barricade, fight, and evacuate.  WIth arrows pointing in both directions from one word to the other.  These multi direction arrows indicate you can go in any direction, where another choice can be more appropriate at different points of time depending on the situation. The training brings to light the options you have and how to use them correctly.

TacOne training also provides age specific and age appropriate training to students.  The goal is to expose kids to scenarios so that they can learn how to respond quickly if they don't have an adult around to lead them in that situation.

The participants learned that the school library, cafeteria, hallways are targets. Shooters do not usually attack at normal times.  This is happening because now many active shooters have had lockdown training. That's why a good response is critical.  Locked doors are a barricade that active shooters don't want to deal with.

The training is to help you not freeze and to survive based on the WIN acronym (What's Important Now).  The other acronym to keep in mind is observe, orient, decide, and act (OODA).

Deedon mentioned that often times people freeze in an emergency situation because they are waiting for someone else to make a decision as to how to react. There is also the fear of not following correct policy an regulations. Deedon also said that in such situations common sense, being willing and able to respond correctly in critical situations, and saving lives should be what guides your decision.