Orlando Office Building & Ft. Hood Shooter Situation: Excellent Police Response

The recent tragic office building shooting in Orlando, Florida, underscores my quick move to offer kudos to the Orlando Police Department in their quick response. Patrol officers were on scene in approximately one minute. As I explained in three live breaking news MSNBC TV interviews and the MSNBC.com website, as well as for local stations in Orlando, FL, (WESH 2 - NBC - News and Central Florida News 13) and Columbus, OH, (WCMH NBC 4 News), first responding patrol officers moved quickly and may have moved the shooter to leave sooner than he originally intended. They exemplified what we want to see in our law enforcers in times of crisis: brave decisive action backed by training and experience. When others run away, these men and women lived up to their oaths and ran towards the danger zone.


I detailed too quite a few show bookers, producers, news anchors and reporters, law enforcement response to active shooter situations changed historically at the Columbine High School incident in Colorado. As many will recall, that situation saw first responding patrol officers standing by waiting for SWAT team officers. Meanwhile, students were being shot and the gunmen moved through the structure unfettered.

Law enforcement trainers took a hard look at response tactics in those situations and a new approach was born that was used in Orlando, as as well in the Ft. Hood shooting in Texas. The idea is to have first responding patrol officers form small, mobile teams to dynamically and aggressively move towards the sound of gunfire or where the perceived threat may be. Along the way, they encounter people who they shoo behind them towards hopefully other arriving teams of officers. I'm not detailing the formations of these teams or other tactical details that could compromise the officers and the public.



I was involved in this training when it started and evolved. I found it to be an effective means to, in our parlance, neutralize the threat. It is training that is grounded in much thought and research. I know this training and I know the law enforcement agencies involved in the Florida response. Since I ran an Orlando-area Police Academy at Seminole Community College, I trained many of the men and women that responded on November 6, 2009.

The Orlando Police Department, as well as the Orange County Sheriff's Office, are known for their unusual proficiency via a bunch of training hours and resources devoted to this method. Jason Rodriguez, the Orlando shooter, picked the right part of the country (from my perspective) as the officers in Central Florida are among the best in the nation at this type of call for police service.




On a related note, for those who think that I am anti-law enforcement in my news interviews, you haven't watched more than a few of my interviews or visited my website (such as www.TheCopDoc.com). My recent stance on the excellent work of the Orlando Police Department certainly underscores that. Many of them are available for viewing on my youtube.com channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/richardweinblatt).

What is interesting is that I have a chorus of folks who feel that I only take the side of the po-po given my background in law enforcement. Both are far from the truth. Sometimes I side against law enforcement's actions in a particular matter. Other times, I defend their actions. And still other incidents I have taken a middle of the road neutral stance given that not enough facts were presented yet.

I let the facts speak for themselves and, coupled with my training, education, and experience, assess and communicate a professional opinion of complex justice issues in terms that are understandable. That has been a central part of my life's mission.

That my mission can help to highlight and explain the laudatory action of law enforcement officers in Orlando and Ft. Hood is particularly satisfying. Some of the TV news interviews are featured below.