CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office along with the Better Business Bureau held a Civilian Response to Active Shooter Event (C.R.A.S.E.) training course Tuesday for local businesses and their employees.
The event drew over 150 people as Sgt. Chris Olson in training and Investigator Jeff Morlock with the Sheriff’s Office shared the Avoid, Deny and Defend method to survive an active shooter incident.
According to the training provided, ‘avoid’ includes paying attention to your surroundings and having an exit plan. The ‘deny’ portion of the method tells you to make sure to keep distance between you and the shooter when getting away is difficult or maybe even impossible. ‘Defend’ means you have the right to protect yourself so if you can’t avoid or deny.
Sgt. Olson talked about the importance of the training. “The importance is combating the bad guy that’s out there and we all know he exists. Once we get past that denial everything else is easy. This is the foundation of building that defense when he comes, not if,” said Olson.
The C.R.A.S.E. course gives strategies, guidance, and a plan for surviving an active shooter event. The history and prevalence of active shooter events were covered as well as civilian response options, medical issues and plans for businesses to conduct drills.
Joy Kraeske, owner of Action Air, was at the event with some of her staff and described the course as very informative.
Another free C.R.A.S.E. Active Shooter Response Course is scheduled for June 18 at Daymar College, at 2691 Trenton Road. For more details email Melanie Thompson with the Better Business Bureau at mthompson@gobbb.org or call 931-503-2210.
