By Alex Wieckowski
Campus News
There have been six school shootings targeting students and teachers in 2018. That’s roughly one a week since the beginning of the year, a terrifying statistic. The most recent school massacre in a South Florida high school resulted in the unfortunate loss of 17 lives, one of the deadliest shootings on record.
School shootings have occurred at every level of the educational system, including elementary, middle, high, and college. With public officials making almost zero progress to prevent such horrific events, one company set out with the mission of making a difference.
Shortly after the horrendous Sandy Hook shooting, Tom Czyz (pictured) decided something had to be done and started working to create Armoured One. Czyz wanted to find a way to help people in emergency situations. Working with a team of active shooter experts, he studied the history of shootings and created products to deter shooters and tactics on how to survive an active shooting.
Armoured One was founded by Czyz, a Sheriff’s Deputy and SWAT team member with over 15 years of experience, and Tino Amodei, an experienced businessman. The team also consists of Mat Vance, who served over 10 years as both a scout in the U.S. Army and an independent security contractor overseas, and Michael Poland, who has spent over 20 years as a law enforcement officer, 16 years as a SWAT team member and 7 years as a SWAT Team leader.
The company has worked with hundreds of schools, as well as Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries.
Armoured One’s team travels across the country providing tactics and training for teachers and faculty on how to defend themselves during an active shooting scenario. By teaching more advanced methods than just lockdown drills, teachers and staff learn how to take action if a shooter enters the school building and how to fight back and save lives. The company also provides school security by training faculty, creating preparedness plans, and assessing possible threats.
One of their services, the active shooter training program, was created by SWAT Team Operators, Homeland Security Active Shooter Experts, a former Navy Seal Master Chief, Psychologists, and Teachers. The course is split into multiple levels and teaches skills and tactics in stages to better prepare school staff in handling an attacker.
The first level of the program consists of a presentation that covers past shootings and how to act if a shooting occurs. The second level focuses on teaching self-defense tactics to staff and faculty. Groups are broken down into classes of 35 people and role players are utilized during the training event. The third level reviews tactics learned in the prior levels and teaches staff how to identify gunshots and how to act as a first responder. Each level is taught by SWAT Team Operators, Homeland Security, retired Navy Seals or retired Delta Force Operators.
When looking at the three deadliest school shootings, Armoured One states that all three involved the attacker shooting the glass to gain entry into the building. As a countermeasure, the company created glass products such as resistant security glass and film. The glass is shooter, attack, and bomb certified which is tested and based on the history of active shooters. It is available in a thickness as small as one-quarter of an inch thick.
The company states that the glass provides the energy efficiency one would expect from an insulated glass unit while looking no different than standard glass, giving an element of surprise to anyone who tries to get through it.
One way schools can better defend themselves against active shooters is to have a single point of entry. Setting up only one point of entry and having a security guard behind bullet-proof glass would greatly deter shooters as most shooters enter schools by a side entrance or by shooting glass panels.
If a shooter does enter the building, teachers and staff should remember the run, hide, and fight tactic. If it’s possible to escape the area, do so quickly and quietly. If running is not an option, hide in a room with a lock, barricade the doors, and turn off the lights. Only as a last resort should anyone fight the shooter.
Czyz notes that school shootings are a complex problem. Both Congress and the President must act and reform in gun laws is needed. In the recent Florida school shooting, the 19-year old shooter, who murdered 17 people, legally purchased a semiautomatic rifle but wasn’t legally old enough to drink alcohol.
For now, Cryz and his team will continue to do everything in their power to better prepare schools and their staffs in hopes of preventing any more of these atrocities from happening.
Armoured One states that schools may qualify to receive level one of their active shooter training for free. Teachers and school faculty who are interested in learning more should visit armouredone.com or email info@armouredone.com.
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