C3 Podcast: Active Shooter Incident Management

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 t...

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, pol...

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...

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 Otterbach...

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 Activ...

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 th...

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 Shoo...

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, B...

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 missi...

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,...

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 s...

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 wh...

Where should the Perimeter Group Supervisor actually be in an active shooter response: standing a post on the perimeter, or inside the command post? In this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast, Bill Godfrey is joined by Sheriff Kevin Beary and Assistant Chief Kevin Nichols to answer a listener question from a Canadian officer about the Perimeter Group Supervisor’s position an...

When do you move from a single law enforcement incident commander to a unified command in an active shooter event—and how do you do it without creating chaos at the command post? That is the question we dig into in this episode of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast. Host Bill Godfrey sits down with Sheriff Kevin Beary and Assistant Police Chief Kevin Nichols from the National Center fo...

Dispatch isn't just a voice on the radio—it can make or break an active shooter response. In this episode we sit down with Bill Godfrey, Sheriff Kevin Beary, and Kevin Nichols to unpack why 911/dispatch is a true operational lifeline in modern critical incidents.​ You’ll learn how dispatchers: Capture and organize fast-moving intel from panicked callers.​ Support initial law, fire, and EMS respons...

In this episode, the team breaks down the real-world differences between a Casualty Collection Point (CCP) and an Ambulance Exchange Point (AEP), why they matter, and how to set them up so you save more lives in an active shooter or mass casualty event.​ Episode 120 dives into working in the warm zone and explains how CCPs and AEPs function together to move victims rapidly from point of injury to...

On April 17, 2025, a normal college day suddenly turned into a crisis when an active shooter appeared on campus, and Hope—a senior at Florida State University—was right in the middle of it. She talks about what it was really like: hearing sirens, getting lockdown alerts, and dealing with fear, confusion, and the challenge of keeping calm when nobody knew what was happening. In this powerful and em...

Today’s episode tackles the question  How can first responders get real practice with active shooter incident management—when true incidents are (thankfully) rare in a career? Our panel explores practical strategies for integrating incident management skills into everyday calls and routine events—so you're always prepared, even if you only see a "big one" once in your career. Key highlights: Disco...

What happens to the uninjured survivors after an active shooter or mass casualty event? In Episode 117 of the Active Shooter Incident Management podcast, host Bill Godfrey and his team of instructors from the National Center for Integrated Emergency Response dive into the complex challenges faced by responders when managing large crowds of uninjured survivors at outdoor and indoor venues. This dis...

Emergency response agencies tend to spend much more time on tactics training—like room clearing or forming rescue teams—than on incident management, which focuses on organizing resources and ensuring everyone works together effectively. The podcast argues that both are equally important and should be integrated, suggesting agencies use small, realistic joint drills with law enforcement, fire, and...

Episode 115 of the Active Shooter Incident Management Podcast focuses on how first responders deal with active shooter threats that happen outdoors, like at concerts, fairs, parks, or theme parks. The host, Bill Godfrey, talks with experts from law enforcement and fire/EMS about what makes these outdoor incidents different and more challenging than those inside buildings. Main Points: Outdoor acti...

In this episode, our hosts dive into what truly defines an "active threat," focusing on scenarios like active shooter events and the critical decisions first responders must make in real time. They discuss how to recognize when a threat is still actively causing harm versus when the situation shifts and responders need to quickly transition from pursuing the attacker to providing lifesaving care t...

In today’s episode our panel dives into the essential mission for all responders—law enforcement, fire, and EMS—when confronting an active shooter event. The discussion centers on understanding and executing the three core priorities that define a successful response: 1. Deal with the Active Threat The immediate mission for law enforcement is to neutralize the threat—stop the shooter and end the a...

Today’s episode takes a close look at how police, fire, and EMS come together to form Rescue Task Forces (RTFs) and why true interagency teamwork is essential for saving lives during high-risk incidents. The episode emphasizes that successful RTF deployment depends on much more than just assembling personnel; it requires careful pre-deployment briefings, clear communication about roles and expecta...

Every active shooter incident involves a minimum of three crime scenes: the location of the shooting, the suspect's mode of transportation, and their residence. But these scenes are just the beginning—additional challenges like jurisdictional coordination, evidence preservation, and responder safety add layers of complexity to these high-stakes situations. Topics covered include: Identifying and m...