job$ somebody's gotta do...
job$ somebody's gotta do...
I can't think of many jobs that shouldn't exist, but there is at least one assignment that falls into that category.
Huh? What’s up with that?
It's heartbreaking that our society needs these kinds of services, Eric Culver said. When I was in school, we had tornado and fire drills. Today, kids have active shooter drills.
Eric, Dale Massey, and Tammy Brown are the working partners of a company called Active Aggressor.
Just this afternoon (December 13, 2022) we had an active shooter in a mall here in Louisville (Kentucky), he added. I feel bad about that, but, I also feel good that Dale, Tammy and I are helping people by training them how to react to an active shooter.
Eric and Dale have both recently retired from the Louisville Police Department, known as LMPD. Both were members of the SWAT Team.
How did Active Aggressor come about?
A couple years ago, Dale and I attended a training course out in Arizona, Eric recalled. We were in the middle of the desert and there wasn't a whole lot to do after classes were finished for the day. One day, we started talking about what we were going to do when we retired.
You are both specialty qualified .
That's just it, he continued. We felt the years we spent on the police force combined with our years of service on the SWAT Team is unique, but, we didn't know how it would help us in retirement.
What happened for the three of you to start Active Aggressor?
Shortly after that seminar, I was the first officer to respond to an active shooter at a Kroger store in Jeffersontown (Louisville Metro area), Eric remembered. I walked into the back of the store and found 30-40 people hiding in a walk-in freezer. In that moment, I realized civilians didn't have a clue what to do in the event of an active shooter.
So, an active shooter was the beginning of Active Aggressor?
Yes, it was, Eric affirmed. Following that event, I was at a Christmas party and a relative of my wife overheard me talking to someone else about starting this business. She said she had some computer and IT skills and could help us, so, we brought her on and it's been great.
It's almost like it was meant for her to overhear your conversation.
Exactly, he concurred. Tammy does everything business wise Dale and I haven't experienced. Plus, she has a marketing background and that's just what we were lacking.
Really, circumstances gave you a beginning for your idea. The Kroger shooting, you guys having the knowledge and first hand experience and then meeting Tammy to round out the team.
That's one way to put it, he agreed. We know what to do in a shooter situation. The police know what to do and fireman know what to do. It's civilians that don't know how to respond. That's when we decided, This is what we are going to do. We didn't really know how to set it up, but, we knew we were going to do it.
So, a company calls you and wants you to teach their employees what to do in the event a shooter is in their building. What do you do then?
We can do several different things. It just depends on what the school or business wants from us, Eric said. We can act out scenes based upon actual events that have happened. We bring in other SWAT members and they act as role players or instructors. When it comes to a classroom, we go in and teach for an hour based on what they need to know.
What does training people accomplish?
Training expands your comfort zone, he claimed. The Federal Government has a program called Run, Hide, Fight. Our program is more linear. We teach, Escape, Evade, Engage. It's a concept that works.
Is there a difference between what you teach a business compared to a school?
Yes and no, he said. We don't really teach tactics as much as we teach principles and concepts. Tactics would be how to clear a room or move down a hallway. We teach Escape, Evade, Engage. That's the concept.
What is the main difference between these two hypotheticals: an active shooter in a school compared to an active shooter in a supermarket.
If I am in a business, I am an adult and I make the decision what I am going to do for myself, he cited. If I say, Come with me, there's a shooter in the hallway, I can't make you go with me. If you make a bad decision, I'm not responsible for your choice. In a school, the adults are responsible for those kids. It can't be any other way. But, the concept of, Escape, Evade, Engage is the same no matter where you happen to be if a shooter is in the building.
When you assess a building, what is your thought process?
When we go into a building, we look at it two ways: what would I do if I was an active shooter, and what would I do if I was a member of SWAT, he responded.
So, you are looking at every window and door of that building.
That's right. he agreed. We look at exits, entries, fire escapes, number of floors. all of it. We have plenty of pictures and explanations for everything. We explain what is good that is already being done and we tell you the bad. We then build a template customized for that particular building. We put it all together in a hardcopy and in a digital format too.
Does Active Aggressor go out of town to educate people?
We'll go anywhere, Eric smiled. We had a nationwide company call and told us they were doing a convention in Nashville. They asked us to come down to do a scenario for them. We don't really want to do that in a hotel because we have no control over that hotel. But, to answer your question, yes, we will go wherever we have to go.
You have an office or headquarters here in Louisville and of course you can be found on the web.
We're really excited because we just moved into an office space, he confirmed. Or, anyone can reach us at Active Aggressor.com
Eric, thank you very much and I wish the three of you success.
Thanks a lot for letting me tell our story.
Coming up: another oddities, observations, & questions; more POS, and; an update from our Ukrainian friend.
And, finally. The Total Nut Case Award for January goes to the guy out in the state of Washington who tried to kidnap a barista through a Drive-Up Window. How does that even play out?
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