Mass Shootings: Ames Police Are Ready, Are You?

While some area police departments are discussing whether they are armed for a mass shooting event on the scale of the Newtown, CT. school or Colorado theater shootings, Ames police are asking people to think about what they can do.

Officers have .223 caliber semiautomatic rifles and shotguns in every squad car, said Ames Police CMDR. Geoff Huff, but in most mass shooter events the intent of the shooter has been to kill as many people as fast as possible and then commit suicide.

So "the event" would be over by the time police arrived.

Huff said officers can show people some steps they can take to increase their chance of survival and everyone should at least think about what they would do if they ever found themselves in a mass shooting situation.

People should run if they can, hide if they cannot escape and fight back when there is no other alternative.

The department has started going out in the community to teach people how they could protect themselves in their workplaces while they wait for police to arrive.

The Ames Police Department has an Emergeny Response Team equipped with automatic weapons and ceramic plated body armor capable of taking a hit from AR-15 style rifles.

But Huff said in an active shooter situation police would arrive with their semiautomatic rifles first, because it would be faster than assembling the team, whose members are spread across departments and shifts.

The City of Houston made a video showing what people might do if a shooter arrives, which Huff recommends watching.

Watch Run, Hide, Fight

Ames Newsletter. Ames Patch Facebook page. Twitter: @AmesPatch.