Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement

Law enforcement training has long focused on stopping the threat, then on keeping officers alive with tourniquets and hemostatic agents. Many departments now issue that gear, and some require it. The next gap is what happens after the threat is down. Officers are often the first trained people on scene, and the casualties in front of them can outrun the supplies on a belt.

From 2000 through 2022, the FBI designated 484 active shooter incidents. In the 2000–2013 study, law enforcement had to engage the shooter in 45 incidents. In 21 of those, officers were hit: 9 killed and 28 wounded. From 2000 through 2018, active shooter incidents produced 92 law enforcement casualties. In 2022 alone, 1 officer was killed and 21 were wounded. Stopping the shooter does not end the medical problem.

A scene becomes a mass-casualty event when the number of injured people exceeds the training and supplies on hand. That can be two or three people if no one can control bleeding before EMS arrives. Effort is not the limit. Time and gear are.

Bystander Active Shooter Education (B.A.S.E.) is a 4-hour course for officers who may have to keep someone alive without a full trauma kit. It covers what to do in the first minutes and how to bridge from the point of injury until medical personnel take over.

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