Advertise on podcast: C3 Podcast: Active Shooter Incident Management

Most tabletop training runs on the same handful of preset locations. A school. A shopping mall. Useful for teaching principles, but never quite your problem. In this episode, Bill Godfrey is joined by Kami Maertz and Brian Beechner to introduce Counterstrike Terrain, the newest addition to the Counterstrike family of training products. It's a digital map table for functional exercises that pulls up any location you want — your schools, your malls, your hospitals, your target hazards — and lets a room full of people stand around it, write on it with dry erase markers, and move physical resource chips across it. The conversation gets into what that changes in practice. Brian talks about the challenges that only surface when you train on real geography: the trauma center that's ten miles out instead of one, the roads you're very good at blocking and less good at unblocking. Kami walks through preplanning a high-risk warrant, briefing a search team on exactly where the turnaround zones aren't, and running a missing person search that scales outward as the search area grows. They also cover splitting the display for a complex coordinated attack, so the incident and the reunification center operate as two genuinely separate problems with a real communication piece between them — no notionalizing. Plus floor plan overlays, adjustable grids, the 4' x 4' Standard and 4' x 8' Large panels, public order applications, and setting one up outside a command bus when you can't fit every incident commander onto it. WHAT'S COVERED How Counterstrike Terrain differs from the preset Counterstrike printed boardsPreplanning SWAT warrants, special events, and target hazardsTransport routes, traffic, and perimeter decisions on real mapsOverlaying floor plans and adjusting grid sizeSplitting the display for complex coordinated attacks and reunificationMissing person searches and scaling the map outwardPortability, setup, and command post use  RESOURCES Counterstrike Terrain: https://www.c3pathways.com/counterstrike/terrain?utm_source=simplecast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=podcast_ep138&utm_content=terrain Training courses: https://ncier.org/course/catalog?utm_source=simplecast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=podcast_ep138&utm_content=catalog The National Center for Integrated Emergency Response (NCIER) uses Counterstrike Terrain in its School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management (SSAVEIM) Train-the-Trainer and Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) Advanced courses. View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/7LojszP8EoU Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

Schools rehearse lockdown drills. Law enforcement trains tactical response. Fire and EMS practice triage and transport. But how often do all of those groups train together? In this episode, host Bill Godfrey and NCIER instructors Kami Maertz and Brian Beechner break down what actually goes wrong when schools and public safety agencies each build their plans in isolation. The conversation covers: Why siloed training creates dangerous assumptions on both sides — schools assume law enforcement "just knows," and public safety assumes reunification will "just happen" An inverted-thinking exercise that flips the planning question: instead of asking what should go right, ask what you could do to guarantee failure — and work backward from there The communication gap that leaves students locked down for hours with no updates, no information, and no sense of whether they're safe Reunification logistics that most plans haven't accounted for — bus availability, accountability at every transition point, custody verification, separating children from the incident area, and campus size Public safety blind spots including outdated or incorrect school maps, missing master keys, and unlabeled rooms Why a "lockdown" on a playground, in a swimming pool, or inside a cafeteria doesn't look anything like a classroom lockdown — and plans need to reflect that The episode closes with one common thread: communication and integrated planning — done together, not in parallel. The School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management (SSAVEIM) course is designed to bring all of these entities to the same table. Learn more: https://ncier.org/ssaveim View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/rzFKsYDvip0 Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

If you’ve ever tried to line up law enforcement, fire, EMS, 911, and schools around one ASIM plan, you know the real friction isn’t the curriculum; it’s everything around it. In this episode, Bill Godfrey, Kami Maertz, and Brian Beechner look at why ASIM training so often stalls out after the first class and how to design a program that actually sticks. They organize the problem into four buckets – policy, partners, training, and maintenance – and share what they’ve seen work across jurisdictions. They cover how to use inverted thinking (“let’s list all the ways this could go wrong”) to get honest engagement, why one joint policy anchored on the ASIM Checklist beats a stack of siloed SOPs, and how to build a tiered training plan for line personnel, first‑line supervisors, and incident managers. They also dig into the long game: roll‑call refreshers, integrating ASIM elements into everyday calls, budget planning over multiple years, and tapping emergency management and grants so the program doesn’t quietly fade. If you’re a chief, sheriff, fire/EMS leader, 911/PSAP director, emergency manager, or school/system leader charged with readiness, this conversation gives you a practical roadmap for moving beyond once‑a‑year classes to a sustainable ASIM capability. For questions or support with ASIM in your region, reach out to our team and we’ll talk through what makes sense for your agency mix and budget. Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

After thousands of active shooter exercises, we can tell which leaders actually sleep at night. They all did the same things to earn it, and it is not about tactics. It is about leadership.   This episode is the final part of the Active Shooter Training Buyer's Guide. Bill Godfrey, Jill McElwee, Billy Perry, and Ron Otterbacher break down what leaders have to own to make their organizations, and their partners, truly ready.   They discuss:    The difference between "I think we're ready" and "I know we're ready," and the hard work that closes the gap    Why readiness is preparedness, not just training: policies, procedures, funding, and a plan to maintain all of it    How training, exercises, and repetition each do a different job, and why leaders who confuse them stall out    Why your readiness depends on your partners, so if your mutual aid, fire, EMS, and dispatch aren't ready, neither are you   If you're a chief, sheriff, fire or EMS leader, emergency manager, or training officer, this episode gives you a practical guide to the leadership behind real active shooter preparedness, not just checking the exercise box.  View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/qnBdoWeM8_E Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

The biggest failures we see in active shooter incidents aren't at the doorway. They're between agencies that never really trained together. This episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is Part 3 of the Active Shooter Training Buyer's Guide. Bill Godfrey, Ron Otterbacher, Jill McElwee, and Billy Perry dig into what integrated response training should look like across dispatch, police, fire, EMS, hospitals, and emergency management. They discuss: How integration really starts at the first 911 call Setting Realistic, Attainable, and Measurable (RAM) goals Getting everyone on a common playbook with the ASIM Checklist and one shared policy How emergency managers bridge the real "PPE": personalities, politics, and egos If you're a chief, sheriff, fire or EMS leader, emergency manager, or training officer, this episode gives you a practical guide for building real integrated response capability, not just checking the exercise box. View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/fkAkEo_NS_4 Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

In Part 2 of our Active Shooter Training Buyer’s Guide, Bill Godfrey, Ron Otterbacher, Jill McElwee, and Billy Perry dig into what good medical / mass casualty training should include: per‑patient clocks, real triage instead of “closest to the door,” the loadmaster role in casualty collection points, and how to adapt training to your local EMS system.   They discuss:    • Why the biggest survival gap isn’t the gunfight, it’s medical care and triage    • How to think about the “clock” as per‑patient, based on wound location and physiology    • The current state of law enforcement medical training and realistic expectations    • How medical judgment up front changes who actually needs to move first    • Keeping drills in context: radios, movements, casualty collection points, and ambulance exchange points    • How to use after‑action and post‑mortem reports to keep raising your standard of care   If you’re selecting mass casualty or warm‑zone care training for your agency or region, this episode gives you a practical starting checklist for evaluating the medical side.  View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/tus68ab-uhU Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

Too much active shooter tactical training starts and ends with a few officers making entry and neutralizing the shooter. The reality is that the clock, the wounded, fire, EMS, dispatch, detectives, and command all matter just as much. This episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is Part 1 of a four‑part Active Shooter Training Buyer’s Guide. Today, Bill Godfrey, Ron Otterbacher, Jill McElwee, and Billy Perry dig into what proper tactical training should look like, so you can tell whether a course is covering the full problem or only the first few minutes. They discuss: Why training that starts and stops with neutralizing the shooter leaves serious gaps How the clock becomes a second enemy, and why “stage down the street until it’s over” no longer works The shift from older approaches (perimeter and wait for SWAT) to faster, integrated tactics after Columbine A three‑part test for tactics: traceable, vetted in real events or repeated training, and repeatable/teachable What fire and EMS need that isn’t medical: where to stand, where not to stand, how to move, doors, “the X,” and basic movement Why training has to be grounded in what is actually happening now (single shooters, exterior ambushes, approach hazards) How to break the big problem into smaller drills (Rescue Task Force, ambulance exchange points, casualty collection points, detectives) without losing the larger context The value of having dispatch and command involved, even when you’re “just” working the first arriving officers If you’re selecting, funding, or approving active shooter training, this episode gives you a starting checklist for what “good” looks like on the tactical side. View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/kOQ9m4qNHeQ Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

When a violent event happens at a school, the response and the reunification that follows are not a school problem or a responder problem. They are one problem, and both sides have to solve it together. School Safety and Violent Event Incident Management (SSAVEIM) prepares them to solve it together, with particular attention to the reunification a violent event forces. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey and Kevin Nichols walk through the updated course. SSAVEIM brings schools, responders, and emergency management through lockdown, the public safety response, and the reunification that follows, which many school teams have never practiced. Schools see how responders will actually manage the incident, responders see everything reunification involves, and each side leaves knowing the parts of the other's job it had never seen. The biggest focus is the part that goes differently at a school: violent-event reunification. Because the building becomes a crime scene, reunification is forced offsite, with all the logistics and security that involves. SSAVEIM builds on the I Love U Guys Foundation's Standard Response Protocol and Standard Reunification Method, and concentrates on the violent-event reunification those programs do not cover. Both school-district and community emergency managers belong in the preparation, because a violent event surfaces a long list of plans that need updating. Bring SSAVEIM to your community: https://ncier.org/ssaveim?utm_source=sc More resources: https://ncier.org/research and https://ncier.org/blog View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/m7bfI_q4ve8 Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

You cannot afford to wait for a real active shooter incident to find out how well your agencies coordinate. The updated Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) Advanced is where your agencies become one coordinated team, ready to run a real response together. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey and Kevin Nichols walk through what has changed in this three‑day course. Their focus is simple: give you a clearer view of how your teams performs when law enforcement, fire, EMS, dispatch, and command are all working together. They also discuss: New practical exercises that develop skills before running the full scenarios How the number and order of scenarios have changed so performance improves earlier and difficulty builds over time New content for emergency managers, public information officers, dispatch, intelligence, and aviation, including drone operations A special hazards block focused on active shooter incidents in healthcare environments New environments in the simulator, including a fully built‑out hospital, to practice those challenges in a live exercise setting Learn more about ASIM Advanced at: https://ncier.org/asim/advanced?utm_source=sc View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/xeKwv7HeHpw Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

The most valuable part of Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) Basic has always been the hands-on scenarios, so the updated course is built to give you more of them. With most of the lecture now carried by the free ASIM QuickStart course, which is a prerequisite, students arrive already sharing the fundamentals, and class time focuses on running the process. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey and Kevin Nichols walk through what changed. After a short opening that hits the high points and goes a little deeper on a few topics, the class moves into three prescribed scenarios, up from two, with time for a fourth. Those scenarios are now scripted in the trainer manual, so every class, in any state, runs the same standard and objectives. The thinking is simple: consistency is what produces quality. For agencies that want to sustain training in-house, the ASIM Basic Train-the-Trainer has been rebuilt. Because the foundation is front-loaded and the scenarios are scripted, it is now a single eight-hour day instead of two, and it qualifies up to twenty trainers at once, double the previous number, with everything they need to start teaching the next day. The course package is now a browser-based download that runs on Windows, Mac, or Linux and includes the participant guide, trainer guide, and course design document for CEU and POST submissions. And every current trainer can take a free update, eleven short modules in about an hour and fifteen minutes, that recertifies their credential for another three years. Learn more about the updated ASIM Basic at: https://ncier.org/asim/basic?utm_source=yt View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/b33b6KEZjas Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

After training more than 32,000 responders in over 2,700 active shooter exercises, we've learned what separates a coordinated response from a chaotic one: whether law enforcement, fire, EMS, and dispatch have ever operated from the same playbook. ASIM QuickStart was built to put that playbook in every responder's hands, for free. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey and Kevin Nichols introduce ASIM QuickStart, a free online course that delivers the foundational concepts of active shooter incident management in 12 short video modules, in less than an hour. It covers how an incident actually unfolds, the key roles and terminology, and how responders move from first contact to organized rescue and transport, all built on the national-standard ASIM Checklist. Because it's free, self-paced, and available on any device, an entire agency can complete it without pulling people off the street or paying to backfill shifts, and you can push it out to the mutual-aid partners who would respond alongside you. When everyone arrives already speaking the same language, you spend the first critical minutes acting instead of figuring out who does what. There's no registration wall to start, responders can watch the modules in any order, and you can earn a certificate of completion for training hours if you choose. For agencies rolling it out at scale, a free tracking tool lets a training officer see exactly who has and hasn't finished. Start the free ASIM QuickStart course at: https://ncier.org/asim/quickstart Watch this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/e9DlLZsOxug Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

After training more than 32,000 responders in over 2,700 active shooter exercises, we’ve seen Rescue Task Force (RTF) become so focused on who “counts” that it can distract from the actual goal: use the people you have to save as many lives as possible. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey talks with instructors Kevin Nichols and Kelly Boaz about a mission‑first definition of RTF that works in big cities and small communities alike: a team with a medical mission operating in an unsecured area, with its own internal security, regardless of which uniforms are on it. They discuss why time doesn’t apply the same way to every injured person, why judgment at the casualty collection point matters more than labels, and how keeping RTF concepts simple helps responders focus on getting the right patients on the first ambulances instead of debating terminology. Get the free sample Rescue Task Force SOP and glossary of definitions mentioned in this episode at:  https://ncier.org/asim/checklist https://ncier.org/research https://ncier.org/blog View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/W7HUJCBFWOc Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

Your active shooter plan needs an Emergency Manager. After 2,700 active shooter exercises across the country, we keep seeing the same pattern: one agency tries to improve its active shooter response, but without emergency management leading a shared plan, training stays siloed, and different approaches collide at the same incident. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey talks with instructors Kevin Nichols and Kelly Boaz about why your active shooter plan needs an emergency manager out front. They discuss: What happens when a single police or fire department tries to “do this on their own” without involving neighbors Why emergency management is the natural place to lead a community‑ or region‑wide plan across law enforcement, fire, EMS, and dispatch How existing EM relationships, plans, and “Rolodexes” help get chiefs and executives on the same page A practical path: get everyone in the same room, acknowledge the shared community problem, align expectations, then move into tabletops and exercises together Real examples where emergency management helped adopt a common active shooter checklist and train nearly all responders in a county or state How a line officer, firefighter, medic, or supervisor can approach their emergency manager and start this conversation without “jumping the chain of command” The bottom line: hope is not a plan. In almost every real event, “everybody is coming to this thing,” so somebody has to own one coordinated plan for everybody. That somebody is your emergency manager. Get the one‑page conversation guide mentioned in this episode to use with your emergency manager: https://ncier.org/research View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/EnG5QLvhjn8 #ActiveShooterResponse #EmergencyManagement #PublicSafety #Podcast Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

After training over 30,000 responders in 2,700 active shooter exercises across the country, we keep seeing the same gap: when EMS isn’t fire-based, the written plan for who goes inside and how transport capacity is protected is often unclear. In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey talks with instructors Kevin Nichols and Kelly Boaz about practical ways to solve that problem before the incident happens. They discuss: The “no ambulance if you take the medic off the ambulance” dilemma in non–fire-based EMS systems Why getting private, hospital-based, and third-service EMS into RTF training is critical Whether you really need paramedics inside the warm zone, or if EMT-level skills are enough for most RTF work How smaller communities can use existing EMTs in police/fire, callback systems, hospitals, and CERT-type volunteers Working through policies like “who can drive the ambulance” with private providers and risk management Six key questions your plan should answer about RTF staffing, warm-zone care, and protecting transport capacity The theme is simple: the gaps are real, but they’re fixable if you sit down now with EMS, fire, law enforcement, hospitals, and emergency management and work the problem together. Get the Active Shooter Incident Management Checklist & Help Guide to support your RTF, triage, and transport planning: https://ncier.org/asim/checklist View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/an5NNOmbiTg #ActiveShooterResponse #IncidentManagementSystem #FirstResponders #LawEnforcementTraining #FireEMS #Podcast Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.

When should Contact Team 2 move downrange in an active shooter response, and how do you do it without flooding the scene or risking blue‑on‑blue? In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey is joined by instructors Kevin Nichols and Kelly Boaz to answer a listener question about Contact Team 2. Drawing on more than 2,700 active shooter exercises, they explain why the old habit of waiting on tactical to “have time” to deploy Contact Team 2 was costing minutes, and how a simple trigger and self‑forming process gets the second team there faster without creating chaos. They cover: The consistent problem they saw with Contact 2 waiting in staging for tactical to call them The updated trigger: when the next 2–4 officers should self‑form as Contact Team 2 and move with speed and purpose How Contact Two should check in: tactical first, then Contact 1, then dispatch if needed Practical link‑up and identification habits to avoid blue‑on‑blue Why “flooding the scene” with freelancing officers wastes time, clogs the warm zone, and endangers RTF operations Using the ASIM Checklist as built‑in redundancy when tactical is overwhelmed A simple roll‑call briefing you can use so every officer on your squad knows their Contact 2 role cold If you’re a patrol supervisor, trainer, or command‑staff leader responsible for active shooter readiness, this is a useful episode to turn into a short roll‑call block, in‑service talk, or tabletop drill. View this episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/IL0d5mCPAyM Download the Active Shooter Incident Management Checklist & Help Guide at: https://ncier.org/asim/checklist to give your agency a single, validated playbook for contact teams, staging, CCPs, and Unified Command. Like what you hear? Drop a review and subscribe to our Podcast Channel. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected] with “Podcast Question” in the subject line. Check out our websites and learn more about C3 Pathways / NCIER by going to: https://www.c3pathways.com or https://www.ncier.org The Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast is owned by C3 Pathways and NCIER. None of the content presented may be copied, repurposed, or used without the owner’s prior consent.