Analysis of the Police Response to Mass Shootings in the United States between 1966 and 2016

This study examines 186 mass shooting events for the protocol police followed upon arrival atthe scene. In 124 of these cases, the police arrived on scene after the shooter had stoppedshooting, either because the shooter committed suicide, fled the scene or was detained by people in the area who were not currently police officers. Of the 186, only 62 cases included police arriving on scene and following a response protocol, either engagement or perimeter. Thenumber of casualties varied for each incident and type of police response. These cases were analyzed to determine if one type of response protocol was more effective in decreasing the number of casualties resulting from a shooting. Analysis of the data showed signs that suggested there are more casualties when the perimeter protocol is followed, but these results remain statistically insignificant. However, indirect support for the effectiveness of the engagement protocol reducing the number of casualties included a significant correlation between the shooting duration and the total number of casualties. Linger Honors Thesis 2 Analysis of the Police Response to Mass Shootings in the United States between 1966 and 2016 One mass shooting many people are familiar with is the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, which killed 12 students and one teacher and injured 24 students (Erickson, 2001). This event was a pivotal point in police response to mass shootings. Since the Columbine High School shooting, the police protocol for shooting events has changed in many jurisdictions from the perimeter protocol to an engagement protocol (Blair, Nichols, Burns & Curnutt, 2013). When following a perimeter protocol, the first responding officers create a perimeter and wait for Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) or other tactical teams. When following an engagement protocol, contact teams made of the first responding officers engage or neutralize the shooter as quickly as possible (Blair et al., 2013). This change was instituted in some jurisdictions because it was believed that an engagement protocol would decrease the number of casualties resulting from a mass shooting. Due to these different police response protocols and the random and unpredictable application of each, each protocol needs to be studied to determine which leads to fewer casualties. This calls for an evaluation of the statistical relationship between the type of police response and the number of casualties from mass shooting events. This analysis can then be used to determine if there is a police response that is most effective in limiting the number of civilians, law enforcement officers, and collaborating agency members who become casualties. Although the Columbine shooting inspired a change in a police response protocol, not all police departments follow the engagement protocol. A very recent example of perimeter protocol occurred on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida during a shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed and 15 were injured (Burch & Mazzei, 2018; Earl & Linger Honors Thesis 3 Schallhorn, 2018; Almukhtar, Lai, Singhvi & Yourish, 2018). At 2:19pm, a shooter entered the school and used smoke grenades to set off fire alarms, so that people would leave their classrooms (Almukhtar et al., 2018; Burch & Mazzei, 2018). While students were attempting to leave the building because of the fire alarm, the shooter opened fire in hallways, five classrooms, and the stairwell, where he left his rifle, ammunition, and vest (Almukhtar et al., 2018). Once these items were abandoned, the shooter managed to escape the building in a crowd of others leaving the scene before he was arrested at 3:41pm walking down a street a few miles from the school (Burch & Mazzei, 2018; Almukhtar et al., 2018). The police were seen standing outside, surrounding the building as students ran out (Almukhtar et al., 2018). This included the School Resource Officer, who did not engage the shooter, but waited outside the building and ordered responding officers to shut down the street in front of the school (Flores et al., 2018). Many officers were ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from the building (Flores et al., 2018). Additionally, as the Broward County Sheriff’s supervisor arrived on scene, he asked if a perimeter had been set up, but was told it had not yet been completed (Flores et al., 2018). A less recent, but just as relevant mass shooting that illustrates this incomplete change in protocols is the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas shooting, which left 58 people dead and over 546 others injured (United States Secret Service [USSS], 2018). Initially police officers responded and tracked down the shooter to his hotel room at approximately 10:24pm, but the police then waited for SWAT officers to engage the shooter (Almukhtar et al., 2017). When the SWAT officers entered the hotel suite to engage the shooter around 11:20pm, they found that the shooter had already committed suicide, likely around 10:25pm (Almukhtar et al., 2017). Although it is estimated that the shooter committed suicide shortly after his location was determined, it took SWAT approximately 75 minutes to mobilize and enter the hotel suite, which is far longer than Linger Honors Thesis 4 the 20-minute response time by some SWAT teams (Los Angeles Times Staff, 2018; Blair & Martaindale, 2013). Due to the delay in SWAT response, many more lives could have been at risk, as was the case during the Columbine and Parkland shootings, if SWAT and police officers were unaware the shooter was no longer active. SWAT and the police department’s understanding of the status of the shooter by the time SWAT entered the room remains unknown to the public. These are only two examples of mass shootings (at least three people killed or physically injured) within the last year, but there are many others. Mass shootings and active shooter events (ASEs) have become more prevalent in recent years, but there are only a few databases that track the number of mass shootings, which include the Gun Violence Archive (n.d.) and the Mass Shooting Tracker (2013). Others, such as the Stanford Mass Shootings in America (MSA) database and the Gun Violence Archive track the number of the casualties that result from the shootings included in their database. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 384 mass shootings in the US within 2016, which has largely increased from the two known mass shootings that occurred in the US within 1966 (Jeffrey, 2018; MSA, 2012). Between 1966 and 2016, there have been over 1,000 mass shootings in the US, with at least 986 occurring between 2014 and 2016 (Gun Violence Archive, n.d.; Mass Shooting Tracker, 2013). Before the Columbine shooting, law enforcement officers were trained to create a perimeter around the location so the shooter could not escape, evacuate those who could easily be evacuated, establish communications, and to call SWAT to neutralize the shooter (Blair et al., 2013; Smith & Delaney, 2013). These steps were summarized as five c’s: “contain, control, call SWAT, communicate with the perpetrator, and come up with a tentative plan” (Smith & Delaney, 2013). After Columbine, law enforcement protocols changed to emphasize creating Linger Honors Thesis 5 groups of two to four police officers as small contact teams who would attempt to end the shooting by killing or apprehending the shooter (Smith & Delaney, 2013); a switch to an active rather than a passive response. The intent of the change in active shooter response protocol is to reduce casualties, however, little research has examined whether this has occurred (Blair et al., 2013).