Mass shootings and crowd safety: What to do when danger strikes

This incident in D.C. certainly putting safety once again at the top of our minds, especially at a time when we head into the holiday season with crowded shopping centers and areas that become a lot busier during this time. I want to bring in Steve Rotolo, Senior Vice President of Risk Services Division. Steve, thanks for joining us today. Thank you for having me. You know, a conversation like this. It needs to happen about safety, because in these circumstances, this mass shooting today, but also just in general right now, we're going to see a busier hustle and bustle, whether it's shopping, New Year's celebrations and so on. I want to, in a sense, prepare for the unthinkable. How do we handle these kind of scenarios and maybe kind of walk us through a way to just kind of understand when a shooting happens or we think shots are fired, what's our first instinct? What do we do first? When I teach a class on active shooter awareness, I always talk about situational awareness, being aware of your surroundings. You know, to be aware of your surroundings, you have to have all your senses available. You can't have AirPods in, you can't be listening to music, because guess what? You could hear screams, gunshots, which you might miss if you had noise-canceling headphones Be aware of your surroundings. You know, bad things have happened. All across the country and around the world. And last week, you just had a watch last week in Tampa. That poor young lady was eating her lunch. But there was a car crash prior to that. You know, that should set off your spidey sense, like something's wrong here. You know, pay attention to what's going on. Like I said, be aware of it. Your eyes, your ears, you know, when the shots do start happening. You know, the DHS standard, run, hide, fight. Get yourself out of there. Don't take your phone out and try to video it to see what's going on so you can sell it to the news. Like, get yourself out of here. Your safety is the most important thing to do. How do we handle large crowds when shots are fired or even in general if we see a crowd that's moving quickly and we don't know if there's something going on, what's the first advice that you could give us when we see a crowd running? Well, first piece of advice is get out of the way because more people get trampled in a stampede, you know, especially if you're at a large venue, a concert, a mall, something like that. You know, people running for the exits. You don't want to be on the bottom of a pile as people are running from the scene. You know, if you see a crowd moving quickly, probably a good idea to start moving as well, you know, until you figure out what is going on. I want to talk about escape routes because a lot of times we might be in a building and think, okay, we might have an idea of where emergency exits are. How do we figure that out, especially at a mall, let's say, or some area that may be busier than others? So this is a perfect example. When I give the class, I ask people, even here, I did it. You come in and out the same door every day. Do you know all the entrances, exits from this building? You know, your workplace, active shooters, active attacks are happening everywhere. Not just at a workplace, they're happening in a house of worship, shopping centers, out in the open. So, you know, be aware of your surroundings, know where the exits are. I always, you know, when I go into a restaurant, I'll scan the restaurant, I'll see where the exits are. Same thing, a movie theater, a mall. And if I'm traveling with my family, I'll set up a plan. Listen, if something goes wrong and we have to meet up, here's where I want you to meet me afterwards. Have a plan in your head. If the bullets are flying or things are going, explosions are going on, even in a fire, it's too late to have a plan then. Like I said, look ahead, look for the exits, your place of where you work, your house of worship. Scan the room, know where all the exits are, not just the one you come in and out of every time, because that could be blocked. That could be where the problem is. Yeah, absolutely. Talk to me about some warning signs. Are there warning signs if we are in a crowded area and something becomes a dangerous situation? I mean, depending on what it is, it could turn into a disagreement, a fight, which, you know, next thing you know, weapons could come out. Somebody's getting stabbed. Somebody's getting shot If you're paying attention to your surroundings, you're seeing those warning signs, you're seeing the agitation, you're seeing people start, you know, get louder, but there could be no warning. Listen, some of these accounts, they just walk up, start shooting, like in some of these active shooter incidents in the recent history. Steve, give us a little bit of background information for anyone watching right now. Certainly, security is your expertise. Mm-hmm. Walk us through maybe something you may have seen or experienced or even how you train everyone. Okay. I spent, prior to becoming a private security, I spent 33 years in law enforcement. I retired as an assistant chief with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, one of the nation's largest police departments, you know, protected the World Trade Center site. The major metropolitan airports, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Port Authority Bus Terminal, largest, busiest bus terminal in the world. I was involved with the suicide bombing at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in 2018. Handled the evacuation and the investigation of the, you know, like you said, the world's busiest bus terminal. Somebody blew up a suicide vest underneath the bus terminal at rush hour, you know. 300,000 people come through that bus terminal on a day, 8,000 buses a day. You've seen a lot. I've been involved. I was a responder to 9-11. I spent years at the World Trade Center site, and my last 10 years protecting the World Trade Center site. We certainly appreciate you for bringing these kind of events to our attention because it is always better to be prepared and ready. Steve, we appreciate you for joining us today here in Detroit. Thank you. Thank you for having me.