At a time when school shootings are seemingly common events, University Police offers departments and units across the university training that can help them prepare if such an incident ever happened at UB.

In addition to these departmental training sessions, UB Police also holds “walk-in” training sessions for individuals. The next sessions are scheduled for noon to 12:45 p.m. March 7 and 3:30-4:15 p.m. March 9 in 330 Student Union, North Campus. No pre-registration is required for the walk-in sessions; departments may schedule training sessions by contacting UBPD.

UBPD began offering active shooter response training several years ago, mostly to specific university departments upon request; the walk-in sessions began last year, says Chris Bartolomei, acting chief, University Police.

The active shooter training provided to faculty, staff and students is based on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Run, Hide, Fight” response model, Bartolomei explains. “Run, hide, or fight sound like common sense options — and they are — but it’s important to understand how to weigh those options based upon the situation you find yourself at any particular moment,” he says. “A typical active-shooter incident is a dynamic situation: Your best option at one moment might not be the best option minutes or seconds later.

“During our training sessions, we describe each option in more detail, and how to choose the best available option at any given moment,” he says, adding the session also includes discussion of the UB Alert notification system and advance measures for preparation and prevention, as well as a screening of a video detailing how to survive an active shooter.

UB routinely conducts large-scale active-shooter exercises on campus with area emergency responders, which, Bartolomei says, are designed to make a coordinated emergency service response more efficient and effective.

The active shooter training UBPD provides to university departments and individuals is important because it is designed to improve each individual’s response. “It is extremely important to protecting lives in the critical moments before emergency responders arrive at the scene,” he says.