Chris Grollnek in News Interview as Active Shooter Expert Again

Chris Grollnek in News Interview as Active Shooter Expert Again

Chris Grollnek in Baltimore Sun Interviewed as Active Shooter Expert

     The circumstances of the following incident are tragic and were completely preventable.  I am not writing this to inflame any officers or “blame” any mis-steps as I am sure there is plenty of that going around the city now.  The tragic part for me is this is a mirror image of an event that took place with a SWAT Team several years ago in a city near the department I worked at the time.  The lessons learned from that event should have resonated so deep in every officers soul that this could not possibly happen again.  Safety, Safety, Safety!!!!!  It’s what we preach as police officers in training (habitually policing each others safety during training) even if it means hurting some feelings.  As a professional firearms instructors it goes deeper.

     Whatever broke down with policies, procedures, and common sense that day has evolved into a media storm.  I have seen numerous TV interviews with local authorities seeking to “blame the other guy”; a great deal in print about why things are “so bad”; and “so wrong” making officers look like idiots.  The hard fact of this incident (without even “Monday morning quarterbacking” it) is the tragic factuality of a case of poor judgment that led to this mistake.  A mistake that has a trainee in critical condition in Baltimore (last I heard from Texas).

Police however are “never” allowed to make mistakes and this tragedy demonstrates the reason for that.  If a person at a normal job site has a bad day, they go home and do whatever they chose to relieve the stress.  This officer made a mistake that put another “officer” (albeit a trainee) in a near death condition and is being crucified for it and probably rightfully so.  But only because the breakdown of set safety protocols and national standards set by so many, its hard to even TRY and make this mistake.  Thats why one can never underestimate the stupidity of cutting corners during training with simunition training events.  Why live ammo was allowed into a training site is a question I will never know and being told by a reporter who wanted to interview me for my swat expertise on active shooter events and training for them <strong>properly</strong>, it pained me to learn of this story.  I took my time, read about the situation and gave an interview.  Please read the article from the Baltimore Sun here written by Justin Fenton and Justin George with The Baltimore Sun.  It is an honor to have done this interview even though the tragedy of the entire incident will resonate poorly for trainers nationally for quite some time.  The good that will come from this is safety will again become a priority and for whatever reason, not be allowed to “lapse” again as it so obviously was allowed to do so!  The date and time the article was released also follows:

7:25 p.m. EST, February 20, 2013.  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-training-rosewood-no-permission-20130220,0,6216267.story

The issue I have with this incident is besides the “judgement and lack of safety”, there are enough bad people out there hunting officers down and killing them that a “blue on blue” (officer shooting another officer) shooting is completely unacceptable.  My interview was about why a department would use unfamiliar locations and “simunition training.”  (inside the article you will read my objective opinion to explain what most civilians do not understand.  Permission or no permission, that was not what caused this incident, it was STUPIDITY and lack of a “safety officer.”

I explained (as stated in the interview without passing any judgment on any party involved) that this was the best way to see what officers will do in an unfamiliar environment in the “real world,” with the most realistic setting possible.  We train young recruits and officers and give them a whole set of skill sets and tools to mitigate situations with exactness.

For active shooters, we go a little further training them to take a calculated risk to seek the threat and stop it as soon as practicable.  It pains my heart as a retired police officer teaching corporations safety tips to stay alive during mass shooting sprees referred to as active shooter events that an active officer (veteran with 18 years) shot another officer because of shortcuts.  Countermeasure Consulting Group, LLC is teaching risk mitigation specifically for active shooters without teaching firearms tactics or takedown strategies and that separates us from every other company out there along with several other strategies.

As the yeas have passed, I have become an “active shooter expert” because I have survived three different incidents of being involved in active shooter incidents.  Surviving all three, two as an officer, and one as a civilian on vacation with my family, I have a unique perspective to these situations.

Chris Grollnek and active shooter expert have been synonymous with each other for years now.  A company assembling a panel of subject matter experts (SME’s) has asked me to be the “chair” for the DHS project coming up in August and it brings joy to my heart to help save people with common sense.  This incident is haunting  because it seems everything the group did was right up until the training actually started.  A building of unfamiliar territory was located and cleared.  Trainee’s were given a course and were told to run through seeking the shooter drills.  The flaw of course is where was the senior training officer, the lead training facilitator, and the range officer who in this case would have been the safety officer.  The GOLDEN RULE OF TRAINING is NO LIVE AMMUNITION IN TRAINING SITES unless it is a live fire exercise and active shooter training typically is not live fire training because that is done on a static range or in a “shoot” house.

I am told from other reporters that my interviews will be in papers in several cities throughout the extended area for a few days regarding this incident.  Feel free to comment and like I said, the officer shot needs your prayers as much as the officer that shot him.  This is one of those mistakes that gets “chalked up to” it’s a dangerous job and some times bad things happen.

Stay safe out there, if police can make mistakes and critically wound one of their own, think of a madman(woman) having a “bad day” and attempting add to statistics while making national headlines…  Get training, www.countermeasureconsulting.com provides free training often.  Check their web site and watch the PSA’s they have decided to host for your educational benefit.  As the leading active shooter expert in the country (being involved in three actual events one as a civilian with my family) I can tell you, training will same you, your family, friends, co-workers, etc, but get training, don’t wait to see if your “fight, flight, or freeze” response works accordingly!!!

Chris Grollnek, Active Shooter Expert

Recently submitted by a small business to the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Counsel as the “Chair” for Active Shooter Prevention

Chris Grollnek in News Interview as Active Shooter Expert Again

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