Preparing for an Active Shooter
Dear Students, Staff, and Faculty:
Active shooter incidents are rare on college campuses, but as we have seen in recent years, they can occur anywhere. It’s therefore important that our students, staff, and faculty know what to do in this type of emergency situation.
As part of our training efforts, the university has now developed a short, informative e-course called “Preparing for an Active Shooter.” We recommend that all members of the university community complete it. It provides basic information that you can use to protect yourself and others during an active shooter incident. It’s straightforward, interactive, and should take only 10-15 minutes to complete. The e-course can be found on the myLearning website.
We encourage you to take this brief training, even as we hope you’ll never need to use it.
Thank you.
Jon Links
Vice Provost and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer
Lee James
Executive Director of Campus Safety and Security
Monday, August 07, 2017
Colleagues,
While the possibility of our having an active shooter in our school is small, I want to be certain that you all know what to do if confronted with this situation. We will follow the RUN-HIDE-FIGHT protocol.
RUN – Your first action should be to get out of the building. Head to the exit stairs or out the doors and get away from the building. Do not wait for anyone or anything – just get out.
HIDE – If you cannot get out, then you should hide. Get to a place where you can lock yourself in, if possible. You may hide beneath or behind furniture. Be totally quiet until the coast is clear.
FIGHT – This is a last resort. Fight against the shooter only if there is no alternative.
We have been making provisions for you to hide if necessary. Our classroom doors in Harbor East and in DC can all be locked from the inside. Our offices in both locations have doors that lock. But what do you do if you are on the 5th or 6th floors at Harbor East where all of the offices have glass walls and doors that do not lock? Here is the plan.
On each of those floors, we have turned available storage or equipment rooms into hiding places if needed. There are five of these rooms on the 5th floor and three of them on the 6th floor. Each of these rooms has exterior signage that is colored blue. The attached floor plans show you the locations of these rooms. The rooms are locked and may be opened using your electronic badge. They can also be opened using keys that we have placed around each floor. The keys are in key holders and their locations are designated on the floor plans with a star ( ). Once inside the room, the door can be secured using the deadbolt lock that is controlled from inside. We have equipped each room with a phone, dialing instructions and an emergency kit. Use the phone to dial out for help and then wait for emergency personnel to arrive. Stay quiet!
Please know that these “blue rooms” are off limits except when there is an emergency. The rooms house school materials and/or our information technology wiring. Security will be notified if any of these doors are opened and our surveillance system will record anyone who enters the rooms.
The floor plans also show the locations of the exit stairwells, the AED machines, the fire extinguishers and the fire alarms. If you work on either the 5th or 6th floors, please take a minute to remind yourself of where these things are located on the floor.
The main focus of our security team and our crisis management plan is to keep you safe. I pray that we will never be faced with an active shooter but if we are, remember: RUN – HIDE – FIGHT.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Glen
Glen L. Steinbach
Senior Associate Dean, Finance and Administration
Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
100 International Drive
Baltimore, MD 21202
Office: 410-234-9360