We’re three weeks into 2023 and already there have been 36 incidents in which at least four people have been injured or killed in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit online archive of gun violence incidents.
The Odessa Police Department is doing what it can to help residents improve their chances of surviving such tragedies with it’s free Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events classes.
Since 2017, a handful of specially trained and certified OPD officers have been teaching the class at churches, schools, businesses and Neighborhood Watch meetings and it’s been steadily growing in popularity, said OPD Cpl. Steve LeSueur.
“It’s designed to provide strategies on how to survive an active shooter event. It gives the public several different options on what to do, for example, run, hide or fight,” LeSueur said.
Each class is somewhat different based on the location, he said.
“For example, churches, they want to know how they can improve the overall security of their church. Sometimes it might just be an individual who wants to be safe. They want to know what to do if they’re in public and there’s an active shooter, whether it’s at a large shopping center or the park, just whatever, they want to know what to do,” LeSueur said.
The class is geared toward people who aren’t armed, but for those who do carry weapons, LeSueur said they are reminded to they are responsible for every bullet they use. In other words, they must make every effort to make sure they know for sure who the bad guy is and to be careful not to hurt any bystanders, he said.
In December 2019, a former reserve deputy sheriff shot and killed a gunman after the gunman killed two churchgoers during services in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement.
“In some situations, you’re more likely to be hit from another bystander that’s armed as opposed to the actual shooter, the actual threat,” LeSueur said. “If you are armed, we recommend that you are properly trained.”
The training doesn’t advocate for running, hiding or fighting, LeSueur said.
“We don’t really necessarily say one is better than the other because everyone’s different,” he said. “One of those might be better for you and there might be one that’s better for me. It just depends and every situation is different as well.”
The number of requests for the class tend to ebb and flow depending on current events, LeSueur said. They saw an uptick after the tragedy in Uvalde, for example.
“It really is good training because it really makes people think outside the box, including us. Seems like there’s something I learn every time I teach it and I learn it from other people that have ideas,” LeSueur said. “Every time we teach it, they almost always will say, Oh, thank you so much, we learned a lot of new things. There’s things that we didn’t know.’ It’ll make you think about things you wouldn’t normally think about.”
Many times, participants also decide to take advantage of another free OPD service, LeSueur said.
LeSueur will come out to neighborhoods, schools, shopping centers, convenience stores, churches, homes, apartments and other businesses to do a threat assessment.
LeSueur went to Louisville, Kentucky to take a week-long class at the American Crime Prevention Institute to learn ways in which people can lower the risk of being victimized by burglars and other criminals.
During the assessment, he’ll go through a checklist to determine what security steps have been taken and which additional ones he might recommend. Everything he learns is kept confidential, he said.
“I might recommend they try to improve their lighting a little bit more, install some LED lights. Maybe you should trim your bushes along the front of your business because that’s an easy target for criminals to come and hide,” LeSueur said. “It could be a landscaping issue, it could be a lighting issue. It could be cameras. Sometimes it could be something as simple as installing signs, those are huge deterrent. For example, a sign that says ‘Smile you’re on camera’ or ‘These premises are being monitored by surveillance cameras, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’”
Not all of the measures he suggests take big bucks, he said.
“There are so many that aren’t necessarily expensive, they’re pretty cheap that you can use. The bottom line is that something is better than nothing. It’s a huge deterrent to crime. We recommend installing a doorbell camera, that’s a huge thing,” he said.
Surveillance cameras, spot lights and motion detecting lights are quite helpful.
“They’re great, not only in preventing and solving these crimes, but in preventing other crimes from occurring. If a thief comes down (your street) they’re looking darkness, like they love to go down streets or find places where they’re dark, that do not have lighting and so lighting is a huge deterrent,” LeSueur said.
He also talks about the importance of keeping an inventory of valuables, the need to run criminal background checks on potential tenants and the wisdom in hiring courtesy officers. There’s a website https://reportit.leadsonline.com/ that allows folks to securely store serial numbers, item descriptions, pictures and scans of receipts so you have them in the event of a theft or loss, LeSueur said.
“We’ve done security assessments for an apartment complex where they’re experiencing a rash of auto burglaries. Sometimes they just had a homicide there. Sometimes it could be because they see us constantly responding and they don’t know what the problems are, whether it’s a drug issue, domestic issues, loud parties. Regardless, we always have a advice that can always help.”
Interested?
The next CRASE Training will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24 in the OPD classroom at 205 N. Grant.
For more information visit tinyurl.com/5y8vrpm4.
To sign up for a threat assessment, call OPD at 432-333-3641 or email [email protected].
