Run, Hide, Fight – The Assignment with Audie Cornish

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre, former FBI official Katherine Schweit helped to create the active shooter program that is now implemented by law enforcement organizations throughout the United States. Run, hide, fight is the message that Schweit has helped spread as a life-saving means of minimizing the number of fatalities in shooting incidents. The program includes training civilians to help respond to an active shooter. Schweit speaks with NPR’s Audie Cornish about how the federal system prioritizes action against gun violence, and how there are now entire industries and educational curricula designed to help mitigate the effects of a mass shooting. According to Schweit, the conversations that led to the creation of the active shooter program happened every single day starting with plan development to prevent violent crime from happening again. These conversations included a variety of ideas such as better police response, training civilians on what to do, and getting rid of guns. Schweit and her colleagues would argue about the best way to solve the problem, and they met at the Department of Education because Sandy Hook was a school. When Schweit introduced her idea of run, hide, fight to school officials, she met with resistance, as they were uncomfortable using the word fight. Since Sandy Hook, there has been an industry sprouting up around keeping kids safe in schools. Schweit notes this industry includes safe ballistic enforced windows, door locks and windows, and whole curricula being developed around the topic. She explains that today, schools now hold active shooter drills, and private security professionals provide training like the ones she attended.



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