Church hosts active shooter safety information session

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St. David’s on-the-Hill Episcopal Church recently coordinated with the Cranston Police Department to host an active shooter safety information session for its parishioners.

Officer Glenn Cipalone was joined by Stephen Quartino, a retired U.S. Treasury Department special agent and St. David’s parishioner, after services on a recent Sunday morning, and the two helped the group better understand how to respond to a threat in a public venue such as a church, mall or movie theater.

“One of the biggest changes I’ve seen in 27 years is the fact that I never expected I’d be having these types of conversations with school children at the kindergarten level,” Cipalone said. “At the elementary level, it’s very generic – we equate it to a fire drill and talk about evacuation – but as they get into the upper elementary grades, they start to know what we’re talking about, and by middle and high school we’re doing it over and over again so that they will be familiar with it.”

At the schools, the students participate in a yearly ALICE – or Alert, Lock Down, Inform, Counter, Evacuate – training through the Police Department. But the recent information session at St. David’s was more general, rather than outlining a security plan-specific for the parish itself.

During the presentation, both Cipalone and Quartino stressed the importance of being aware of one’s surroundings and nearby individuals. They encouraged those in the audience to always be aware of where exits are in any building and who is around them.

“Observe and watch those around you,” Cipalone said. “Look for red flags like trench coats, duffle bags and backpacks. Watch for anything out of the ordinary.”

While a typical reaction in such a situation might be similar to the stop, drop and roll response to fires – hiding under pews, seats or desks, for example – Cipalone and Quartino said that is not the best course of action in an active shooter scenario.

“If someone comes crashing through the doors and starts chaos, you do the same thing,” Cipalone said. “You start chaos, too. Move out of your seats, move to the exits. Spread out, split up, move quickly, do not bottle up. Separate and head to several of the exits. If you can get them to flinch, it gives someone else a chance to get out. Pick things up, throw things at the intruder. Half of you go one way, half of you go the other.”

They noted that there are three natural responses for people in an emergency situation – fight, flee or freeze.

“Two out of the three are completely acceptable, but freeze we don’t want,” he said. “If you see people that freeze in a situation like this, get them moving. Tell them, ‘We have to go, we have to move.’ If you are someone who is comfortable with weapons or confronting someone who has a weapon, and the shooter has a long weapon, don’t stand in front of the weapon but grab the front of the rifle because they aren’t strong at the front, they’re stronger at the end they are holding.”

According to Quartino and Cipalone, most shooters are single white males and the odds of someone else being with them are slim. Additionally, their weapons are often purchased legally and they often have multiple weapons and ammunition.

“Active shooters come in and shoot indiscriminately, and they want to come in and do damage. It’s not about killing you, it’s about killing anybody,” Quartino said. “Sadly, their goal is to hit as many targets as they can. Most active shooters have no exit strategy. Their mindset is to die by suicide or by a police officer. This is the type of mindset we are dealing with. They usually hate more than one group. They’re anti-government or anti-Catholic or anti-Jew or anti-something.”

To put the situation in perspective, Cipalone noted that the odds of dying at the hands of an active shooter are slim – approximately one in 11,000. Dying from the flu, for example, is much more common, with odds of roughly one in 72. Nonetheless, he emphasized that awareness and preparedness for such a situation is important.

Quartino also reminded the audience that anything can be weaponized, and that even in places where there are better gun control laws, those who are intent on doing damage can do so with knives and even with motor vehicles, as has been seen in recent incidents.

“Unfortunately, you and I don’t think like that, but you have to be aware all of the time,” he said. “Even when I am on an airplane, I am counting the seats. If anything is going to happen on a plane, it’s going to be in total darkness and maybe full of smoke. Know how far your seat is from an exit ramp just in case there is a problem.”

Both Quartino and Cipalone reminded the audience to always follow the directions of the police personnel who arrive on the scene of an active shooter.

“The police will not do anything until the threat is neutralized, and then they’ll want you to follow their commands, to come out with your hands up and to get out of the building,” Quartino said.

As they concluded the safety presentation, both men re-emphasized that the information shared was valuable no matter the venue, during any active shooter situation.

“This is good advice for a house of worship or a mall or a movie theater,” Cipalone said. “It helps to be aware and to have a plan in place.”

Quartino agreed.

“These are all good security practices for all types of threats,” he said.

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