Policy Text
ACTIVE SHOOTER IMMEDIATE RESPONSE PLAN
EFFECTIVE DATE: 02/28/18 STANDARD NO. 100 REVISED: 05/22/18
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REPLACES: N/A
OBJECTIVE: To provide guidelines towards a safe and concentrated effort to effect the capture
and/or to contain and/or neutralize an active shooter, to ensure the safety of
citizens, officers and suspects and to conduct an investigation into the
circumstances surrounding the active shooting or killing incident and to provide
emergency first aid and/or evacuation to the injured victims.
POLICY: It is the policy of the Homestead Police Department (HPD) to provide procedures
for the rapid deployment of police personnel in response to an in-progress, life-
threatening incident where a delayed deployment and/or a delayed response
could otherwise result in a furthering of loss of life or serious injuries to innocent
persons.
SCOPE: All sworn personnel of this Department shall be governed by the procedures set
forth below.
I. BACKGROUND:
A. In recent years, tragic violent incidents have occurred in public places, both foreign and
domestic, where individuals have employed tactics designed to kill or injure large
numbers of civilians. These incidents include attacks in schools, shopping centers,
airports colleges, rail facilities, courthouses, financial centers or other areas where death
or serious injury can be inflicted on a large number of potential victims. The
reoccurrence of such events are a certainty. Accepting this reality, representatives of
the Miami-Dade County Associations of Chiefs of Police (MDCACP) have conferred to
formulate a plan to respond to the specific immediate threat that is created by active
shooters, ad to teach the “average” patrol officer how to conduct aggressive high-risk
find-and-neutralize missions.
B. The Active Shooter Immediate Response Plan (the “Plan”) has been developed to
provide a plan of action for specific and efficient responses to ongoing violent, life
threatening situations where delayed deployment could otherwise result in death or great
bodily injury to innocent victims. The Plan provides definitions, followed by the
immediate action rapid deployment tactics to be utilized by first responders. It is
recognized that the exact formations used by agencies responding may vary according
to training the officers have received, but the basic tactics and techniques contained
herein will provide the officers with the tools necessary to properly respond, assess,
contain, and deploy response teams. The Plan is limited to active shooter incidents
only, and is not intended to address sniper situations, barricaded subjects, or hostage
situations, which usually require specialized equipment and personnel to resolve
successfully.
C. The Plan represents a shift in patrol response; equipment needs, and command
protocol. These situations require the initial officer(s) arriving on the scene to have the
authority and the capability to take immediate action without waiting for supervisors or
for the arrival of specialty units such as SWAT, Crisis Negotiators, etc. Sworn members
Active Shooter Immediate Response Plan – SOP# 100
responding to active shooter incidents shall protect the life of innocent persons through
any legal means at their disposal in order to swiftly find the active shooter(s) and stop
them. Those means may include arrest, containment, or the application of deadly
physical force. The time frame for the use of deadly physical force against the shooter
continues until the suspect(s) discards his weapons and surrenders, or is incapacitated.