Brainerd Chamber Hosts Active Shooter Preparedness Workshop

It’s something that you hope to never have to be prepared for, but we hear about all too often: an active shooter.

“Nobody thinks it’s going to happen to them, and that’s the common thread throughout the country, especially at businesses,” said Brainerd Lakes Area Chamber President Matt Kilian.

That was the topic of today’s Active Shooter Preparedness seminar put on by the Brainerd Lakes Chamber and the Lakes Area Manufacturing Alliance.

“We put on this event to bring a topic to the business community that they typically don’t get a chance to hear about,” explained Kilian. “It’s the first time we’ve had a non-business topic through the chamber.”

At the seminar, a representative from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security spoke with area business representatives and community members about how to be prepared in an active shooter situation.

“The threat of an active shooter is something that there’s a lot of information on. We certainly have recent events that have happened and so we feel that it’s worth sharing information on what we can do as individuals and organizations to be better prepared for that threat,” said Glenn Sanders, Dept. of Homeland Security Protective Security Advisor.

During the seminar, Sanders went over various ways of preparing and protecting yourself in the event of an active shooter. The strategy that was focused on was “Run, Hide, Fight,” and it is similar to what many people know of as the ALICE method. The Run, Hide, Fight protocol allows an individual to make their own determination of how to respond in an emergency situation.

“It’s very simple. Faced with a situation like this, you have the option to run. If you can’t run, hide where you can’t be seen or where you can protect yourself. The last case scenario, is if you have to, is fight with everything you’re worth to protect yourself and for your family,” said Crow Wing County Sheriff Scott Goddard.

The Brainerd Lakes Area Chamber hopes that attendees can take what they learned from the seminar and implement it at their own businesses or workplaces.

“Everyone thinks about what if it happens to me or my family or my coworkers. How would I react? How would my business or organization react?” said Kilian.

“I hope that they recognize this as a relevant threat or hazard so again, putting a little bit of thought into what we can do as individuals and what we can do as organizations to be better prepared,” said Sanders.

Businesses and workplaces are welcome to host an active shooter preparedness session of their own. More information can be found on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website.