COLORADO SPRINGS — People are in mourning after a mass shooting occurred on Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine. Another act of gun violence is concerning many people about their personal safety.
The Colorado Springs Police Department said because of the shooting in Maine, they have received several calls and emails from people who are interested in taking their active shooter course.
The Crime Prevention Unit is a team of four officers who teach several free classes on safety. One of those officers is M.J. Thomson, who has been a police officer for more than 20 years and has been teaching crime prevention courses for over seven years.
“We offer personal safety, internet safety, and scams,” Thomson said.
They also have an active shooter training class and Thomson said it is their most requested course. The class goes over what to do in the worst case scenario, an active shooting. Thomson said the goal is not to scare anyone, but rather help educate them on ways they can save their own life and others.
He said the class has been proven to save peoples lives.
“What we have seen is the actual number of deaths drop from people who have been through these training sessions,” Thomson said.
Police encourage people not to panic, stay calm, think about what they learned in the training, always have an escape plan, and elevate your surroundings.
“What we teach is the method to run, hide or fight and what happens is once a person realizes the situation is an active shooter event, they pick the option that works best for them in the moment,” said. Christopher Ausec. Like Thomson, Ausec is Colorado Springs Police Crime Prevention Officer.
Thomson said every situation is different. Places, people, the environment, and many more factors change the situation.
“It might be appropriate for one person to run away but for another person in a different hallway might need to stay and hide,” Thomson said.
Officer Thomson says it's crucial for people to learn how to react in these types of situations because unfortunately, it can happen anywhere, so the goal is to prepare people.
“We don't want them to think about what could happen when the incident is occurring, we want them to have prior knowledge and be able to react immediately in a location they are at,” Thomson said.
Police said when mass shootings occur, more people reach out to them to take the course.
“Unfortunately every time we have one of these horrible horrific events like what happened yesterday, they go through the roof, people call,” Thomson said.
Officer Thomson said he has taught the active shooting training course to people from a variety of organizations, businesses and schools in Colorado Springs. He said the reaction to the course varies. For some people it can be emotional, while others feel safer afterwards.
“Most people are very relieved, man, that was a good class, I really learned something. I can take that and teach my kids or neighbors,” Thomson said.
He hopes participants will pass along what they learn to others.
The course is free and available to anyone in the community including businesses, schools, banks, churches and more. People can reach out to the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit to sign up to one of these courses.
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