Active Shooter Policy

• The policy aims to provide procedures for threat assessment and rapid deployment during active shooter incidents to prevent serious injury or loss of life.
• This policy applies to all active deadly threat incidents, including those involving firearms, explosives, knives, or any weapon designed to inflict serious injury or death.

Policy

• The Fort Wayne Police Department's policy is to protect human life by all legally possible means.
• Officers are to rapidly deploy, make contact with the active shooter(s), and stop the deadly assault via arrest, containment, and/or lethal force.
• Prioritization of activities is in the following order: stop the active shooter, rescue/provide medical assistance, facilitate evacuation, and preserve the crime scene.
• The first responding officer(s) have the primary duty to stop the active shooter, but providing medical treatment to wounded individuals is important.

Definitions

• Active Shooter: An incident in a confined, populated area wherein armed individuals are using deadly force or are reasonably likely to use deadly force.
• Rapid Response: Immediate action by one or more officers based on a reasonable belief that failure to act would result in death or serious bodily injury to citizens.
• Contact Team: The first officer(s) at the scene of an active shooter incident tasked with locating the suspect(s) and neutralizing the threat.
• Rescue Task Force: An organized team of officers and FWFD firefighters who enter after the Contact Team to provide rapid triage and evacuate persons to a Casualty Collection Point.
• Incident Scene Commander (ISC): The first individual assuming supervisory responsibility, regardless of rank, who may be the first supervisor on the scene.
• Inner Perimeter: Should contain and isolate the incident scene to as small an area as is safe and practical, to prevent the escape of the active shooter.
• Outer Perimeter: Must encompass a large enough area to accommodate first responders, staging areas, protect citizens, and control traffic.

Procedures for an Active Shooter Incident

• Individual Officer Intervention: A viable option to save lives given that most active shooter incidents involve one suspect.
• A single officer can take necessary action to terminate the use of deadly force by an active shooter.
• An officer may determine that immediate tactical intervention is necessary based on their capability to effectively intervene.
• Factors for intervention comprise of whether the officer is armed with proper equipment, there is a reasonable belief that persons will be killed or injured if intervention is not taken, and the incident site allows for movement, stealth, cover, and tactical needs.
• Officer(s) should notify Communications of an active shooter situation and provide location, descriptions, actions, and information on injured persons.
• When displaying firearms in plainclothes, officers must verbally identify themselves as police and conspicuously display their shields and/or police identification.
• Contact Team missions include: rendering the location safe, assisting with screening and evacuation, and locating any other persons in hiding.
• The Contact Team's priority is to immediately pursue and confront the active shooter(s) to stop them by arrest, containment, and/or deadly force.
• If possible, the Contact Team will relay the location of victims to the incident scene commander.
• Rescue Task Force is to locate and remove victims from the incident area, comprise of at least two officers and FWFD firefighters.
• First arriving supervisor will assume position of ISC and will be in charge of assessing the situation, establishing communications, coordinating resourcing, assembling teams, broadcasting situation estimates, and requesting further need for resources.
• Additional resources that may be needed are: EST, EMS, FWFD Rescue Task Force members, Helicopter MEDEVAC, EOD, Mobile Communications Vehicle, PIO, Detective Bureau, Crime Scene, and the Prosecutor's Office.
• Incident Scene Commander (ISC) must establish a Command Post, First Responder staging area, Casualty Collection Point, Ingress/Egress routes, inner and outer perimeters and Media/Family staging area.
• The Fort Wayne Police Department shall provide its officers with training regarding active shooter incidents.
• Training for active shooter incidents include: scene assessment, room/building entry techniques, building/area clearing techniques, tactical combat casualty care, and improvised explosive device recognition.