Denver's Office of Emergency Management wants Denverites to be prepared. Sadly, these days that includes being ready for active shooter situations.
Come January, OEM will host a virtual class on what to do in an active shooter situation. A second class on what to do if someone is bleeding from a gunshot or knife wound, will also be offered later in the month.
Colorado has experienced 13 mass shootings this year, with the Club Q attack in Colorado Springs being the most recent tragedy. Five were killed in the shooting and 17 others were shot. That brought the total number of injuries and deaths from mass shootings in Colorado to 80 this year. The previous record was 74.
"Active shooter situations are happening more frequently across the country," said Mikayla Ortega, spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Management. "[Club Q] was such a devastating incident and we know it'll happen again and it's unfortunate...It's a reality that unfortunately we have to come face to face with and when it does we want to ensure people are... equipped with the knowledge they need to make the decisions that could potentially save theirs and their loved ones lives."
The classes are part of the DenverReady preparedness training program, run by the OEM. Other courses include creating a household plan for emergencies, how to travel safely, how to deal with financial challenges and how to pack an emergency kit for your car.
DenverREADY Active Shooter Class and Stop the Bleed Class will be offered for free.
Ortega said the classes weren't put together to spark fear in Denverites, but with shootings on the rise, having some type of preparedness could be beneficial.
"I think there's a really big awareness that we're in Denver and our area has had several mass shootings," Ortega said. "The information we're providing is not to scare you. It's not to make you want to crawl under a rock. It's really to [equip] you with information so that if you do find yourself in that situation, you don't freeze. You act."
The first Active Shooter Class will be on Jan. 10 and the Stop the Bleed class will be on Jan. 28. They'll take place monthly. All of the classes are free, you can sign up online and there's no registration deadline.
The Active Shooter Class will be a virtual hour-long course that will discuss what an active shooter is, how to spot red flags or warnings and the "Run, Hide, Fight" principles, which suggests folks either run to safety if possible, hide if escape isn't possible and fight as a last resort.
The class will also touch on what to do once law enforcement arrives, so they don't assume you're the shooter, and what the road to recovery may look like afterwards.
"It's never linear," Ortega said. "There's always going to be peaks and valleys. It's really important to set the stage that people know it takes a while for a community to rebound in a situation like this."
The Stop the Bleed Class will also be taught virtually and will cover how to make a tourniquet and how to pack a wound.
Ortega said participation in these classes is often unfortunately low, so hosting them online is the current method of teaching.
She added that hopefully in the spring more people can attend and they can host classes in person at recreation centers.
Ortega said in the spring the department may roll out a new class on mental health and how to identify when you need help. She said the classes are based on what the department feels Denverites need to be prepared for and active shootings and mental health awareness are at the top of the lists.
Ortega added that with any situation, you never want to wait for the last minute. The rush and the chaos are always a hindrance.
"I think something that's just in our human nature is you don't really think about [an emergency] until it actually happens and then at that point it's too late," Ortega said. "You need to be proactive in your own ability to prepare for an emergency. You need to have these plans already in place so that when they happen you're able to just press play on your plan...It may never happen to you but because the statistics show that [shootings] have gone up significantly, especially post-COVID, you just don't want to risk that."
