The California State University system released an active shooter safety video to help prepare students for the potential threat of a gunman on its 23 campuses.
The video, which emphasizes the “Run, Hide, Fight” survival method, was produced at the end of 2017 with input from campus police chiefs, according to NBC 4. It was originally distributed to CSU campuses in January and was shared on social media earlier this month.
“Run, Hide, Fight… those are your three real options if it’s happening,” says University Police Chief John Reid. “You have to, based upon what’s going on around you, make a decision: Whether I’m going to run from this, whether I’m going to hide, or whether I’m going to fight.”
The video says that students should try to run, partly because campus shooters won’t typically give chase. It also says to run as soon as there are signs of trouble, even if one is unsure that what they are hearing is gunfire. When running, the video says to make yourself a difficult target by running in a zigzag motion.
It also emphasizes that police are minutes away, not seconds, and that “you must fend for yourself” in the meantime and not wait to react.
Although CSU released the educational video back in January, there are concerns that their safety videos aren’t fully reaching students.
Chief Reid says UPD occasionally hosts active shooter training but they are not highly utilized.
“We’ve got this training that’s available, but people who are coming to the training and are engaged in the training are already 50 to 60 percent of the way there,” Reid said. “Even if (students) can say, ‘I know I’ve got Chico State Alerts, and I know what Run, Hide, Fight means,’ that’d be huge.”
Chico State Alerts is an emergency notification system that students can sign up for online, according to The Orion.
“The most important thing I want to tell students is if they see something, say something,” Reid said. “That doesn’t mean they have to call the police. Typically, individuals don’t snap, there’s some sort of build up. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Say something.”
