# The Stopwatch of Death



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

_Part 1 of a 2-part series_

Few in this country will ever forget the images from April 16, 2007, the day Virginia Tech University campus became the scene of a gruesome bloodbath. In a matter of minutes, sociopathic gunman Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people before killing himself. It was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. 



*Watch video* 

Conclusions from a report on the Va. Tech incident were announced Thursday.Yesterday, August 30th, airwaves were jammed with the findings of a new report on the Va. Tech incident that praised the police response as "prompt and effective," but also noted that "university police may have erred in prematurely concluding that the first two shootings were the result of a domestic dispute" - a potential mistake, they say, that cost precious minutes.

While the above speaks specifically to the first of two distinct stages of the shooting that occurred on campus, it serves as a grim reminder of this fact: Active shooters are claiming more casualties in less time than ever before.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnists/RachelFretz/articles/1349058/

The Stopwatch of Death, Part II[SIZE=-1]
_Part 2 of a 2-part series_

*The training paradigm*











In 1975, when Pierce Brooks wrote his groundbreaking book, Officer Down: Code 3, he sent shockwaves through the law enforcement community. In examining new technology and changing realities on the street, the book questioned deep-seated "truths" and replaced them with new, more effective survival techniques.
"For years our officers died from preventable mistakes, but didn't know it - they thought they were doing the right thing," said Ron Borsch, Ron Borsch, manager and trainer at the SEALE Regional Training Academy in Bedford, Ohio. "Training was in a paradigm where whatever you got in the academy, that's what you got for the remainder of your career."
When it comes to countering the new model for shooter motives and tactics, law enforcement is once again at a watershed. In the world of active shooter incidents, Columbine is ancient history, along the outmoded four-man model - or Diamond Formation - that was used to gain access at the time of the shooting.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/news/1356405/
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