Policy Text
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
1 10.1 Special Operations
10.1.5 Active Shooter /Active Terrorism (Revised: 7/18/18)
A. Purpose
The purpose of the active shooter protocol is to save as many lives as possible, as quickly
as possible, with consideration to the safety of those responding and to provide a
comprehensive agency response plan for active shooter situations. The deployment
techniques and tactics described herein should be interpreted as options, not as required
actions that must be taken in every case. There may be alternatives other than those
described in this protocol. Each situation is unique, and police response will depend on
the known information about the situation and threat(s), the structure or area involved,
the availability of additional resources and other factors. It is the policy of this
Department that officers shall use only that force which is necessary to accomplish lawful
objectives given the facts and circumstances known at the time of the event. An officer
may use deadly force only when the o fficer reasonably believes that the action is in
defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in the defense of any person in
immediate danger of serious physical injury.
The FSD Captain will complete a documented review of the protocol wit h campus
stakeholders annually.
B. Definition
1. Active Shooter: One or more suspect(s) who, as police respond to the scene, are
actively killing and/or causing serious, life -threatening bodily injury to multiple
victims. The overriding objective of the suspect(s) appears to be that of murder,
rather than other criminal conduct such as robbery or hostage taking.
2. Barricaded Suspect: Suspect is in a position of advantage, usually barricaded in a
room or building. Suspect is armed and refuses to surrender to police.
3. Incident Transition: That point during the incident where it becomes clear that the
active shooter has become inactive and ceased his/her violent, assaultive behavior.
4. Inner Perimeter: Deployment of officers behind cover and conc ealment around
the area of the suspect with the primary goal of containing the suspect and
preventing escape.
5. Police Rifle: Deployment of trained officers with a patrol rifle or carbine capable
of accurate, high -powered fire at ranges of 25 -50 yards or more.
6. Extraordinary Deployment: Deployment of a small team of officers to move
towards and contact the active shooter, to rescue trapped and injured persons or to
search and clear dangerous areas.
7. Venue Agency: The University of California, San Franc isco is the venue agency
within whose geographic jurisdiction the incident occurs.
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
2 C. Procedures
1. Outline of Primary Points of Operation
a. Safety Priorities:
(1) Hostages
(2) Innocent Persons
(3) Police and Emergency Personnel
(4) Suspect
b. Reasonab le Chance of Success
(1) The Incident Commander must realistically assess situation and the
threat(s) involved (e.g., numbers of suspects and their organization,
types of weapons).
(2) Any deployment of officers into a dangerous situation must be for
a cle ar and obtainable objective and not be reckless or
irresponsible.
(3) The officers’ numbers, equipment, experience and training must
provide for a reasonable chance of success.
(4) Officers are not expected to operate alone or embark on suicide
missions.
(5) Officers will not enter buildings that are actively on fire.
c. Operational Goals ( in no specific order):
(1) Preservation of life and prevention of injury of all involved parties
(2) Scene containment by initial patrol response
(3) Establis hment of incident command post and designation of officer
in charge
(4) Apprehension of suspect(s)
(5) Neutralization of threat(s)
(6) Evacuation or shelter in place directions given to persons at risk
(7) Transition to SWAT or tactical teams (whenever pos sible)
(8) Rendering the scene safe
(9) Preservation of the crime scene
(10) Collection of evidence .
d. Use of Force Policy
(1) Deployed officers should operate within the guidelines of the
UCSF Police Department po licies and General Orders relating to
the use of force (e.g., General Order 4.3, “Use of Force”).
(2) Any incident -specific orders related to use -of-force issues must
come from the on -scene Incident Commander.
2. Jurisdiction, Organization and Communications
a. During a major emergency, the effectiveness of a multi -agency response
usually depends on knowing who is in charge, a workable organizational
structure and reliable communications.
b. The following points are important considerations for active shooter
planning, traini ng and response:
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
3 (1) A UCSF police officer will generally serve as Incident
Commander, unless the situation dictates consideration of another
option.
(2) The Incident Command System (ICS) should be used to organize,
manage and deploy resources.
(3) Specia lized teams and units for active shooter response and
management may be established within the ICS.
(4) Executives, managers and supervisors from other agencies will be
needed at the Command Post to fill section supervisory positions
within the ICS and to support the Incident Commander in
evaluating information and making decisions.
(5) Early in the response, if possible, a dedicated “tactical” radio
frequency and dispatcher should be established for the officers in
the Inner Perimeter,