Active Shooter Training to take place next week

The TOUCH Coalition (Tremendous Opportunities for Union County Health) will sponsor an active shooter training session next Monday at Immanuel Baptist Church.

The training will be free and is available to anyone who wishes to attend. The session lasts from 2 until 5 p.m. and will take place in the Family Life Center of the church.

Scott Lancaster, a certified advanced active shooter instructor from Batesville, will lead the training.

Lancaster also serves as a community relations officer in Batesville and Independence County and formerly practiced law at the Friday, Eldredge and Clark Law Firm in Little Rock.

The class will be based on the ALICE platform, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. Lancaster said the nationally recognized training curriculum teaches a proactive response to shooting events.

According to the ALICE training website, the ALICE Training Institute has trained over 11,500 organizations in active shooter response protocols, including 3,280 law enforcement agencies, 3,700 K-12 school districts and 600 government agencies.

“This is a nationally recognized lifesaving active shooter response program that many entities and individuals simply do not know about. Many places either train incorrectly, or provide no training, resulting in significant needless casualties in armed intruder situations, all of which are highly survivable [if] responded to correctly,” Lancaster said in an email.

A flyer for the event asks that attendees use the Cross Street entrance to the Family Life Center, which is located at 701 S. West Ave.