Wright State Police Department offers free active-shooter training

Wright State offers a variety of tools that faculty, staff and students can use to actively take precautions in an emergency situation. One such resource is the Wright State Police Department’s free ALICE training.

ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evaluate, which are the steps needed to follow in the case of an emergency.

Any Wright State student, staff or faculty member can participate in the two-hour training, which includes a classroom section of learning tactics and a scenario-based section to practice body form and mindset.

“We believe if someone is willing to take their own time to increase their awareness and preparedness for their personal safety, that is our obligation to make sure we do not delay that opportunity,” said Wright State Police Captain David Ratliff.

Wright State Chief of Police David Finnie described ALICE training as a practical program that is an easy to learn.

“You just want to stop the threat. It breaks down how people think. It gets into your paradigm and gets you thinking in how to protect yourself and not be a victim,” he said.

Sign up for ALICE training by emailing Ratliff at david.ratliff@wright.edu.

Wright State police officers also participate in collaborative trainings with local police and fire departments twice a year. The most recent training was conducted in October with the Fairborn Police and Fire departments.

Residence Life and Housing staff regularly review emergency protocols.

“It can happen anywhere at any time,” Finnie said. “You can’t prevent it, so it’s important that we be as prepared as possible for an active threat situation.”

Wright State also offers the Raider Guardian mobile phone app, safety escort by campus police and emergency blue light phones on campus. Approximately 30 blue emergency phones are located throughout the Dayton Campus.

The Raider Guardian app allows users to call university police at the touch of a button, text officers from their smartphones and have guardians virtually follow them across campus until they safely reach their destination with a safety app for smartphones.

Wright State Alert is the university’s emergency notification system. It can send emails, text and voice messages to alert students, faculty and staff about emergencies as well as closures and delays at the Dayton and Lake campuses. It also activates announcements on the Wright State Alert Twitter and Facebook accounts and campus televisions and the university website. Wright State Alert currently reaches nearly 30,000 people.

You can manage your Wright State Alert account and download Raider Guardian at wright.edu/em.

Students can also take one-credit-hour self-defense courses offered by the Department of Kinesiology and Health.

“No training program or class can give anyone the ability to have a 100 percent guarantee when it comes to situations like an active threat, but taking an active role in your personal safety will always be much more beneficial than doing nothing at all,” Ratliff said.