In the wake of 12 active school shooters so far this year in the U.S., Southeast Department of Public Safety will be offering active-shooter training to educate students and staff on how to handle themselves if put in a similar situation.

DPS officer and active shooter trainer Jason Morgan said the training was offered by request last semester, and will now be offered regularly.

“We just want to be as proactive as we can be in preventing and preparing our students for that type of event,” he said.

The training is broken down into two levels, and is open to all students and staff members at Southeast.

Level one is a presentation about the techniques DPS uses in responding, education, which covers goals of active shooters and how to stop them. DPS teaches a run, hide and fight method, Morgan said.

“If you can safely get away, get away,” Morgan said. “We want you to run away from that building, run away from that scene and just get as far away from it as you can, that’s the run part.”

Morgan said a person should hide if they do not feel safe running away. He said the last option is always to fight — and only if a shooter is in the same room.

“It’s your last option,” Morgan said. “You’re basically fighting for your life.”

Level two covers different types of active-shooter situations and basic first aid. The situations are based off past experiences that happened at schools.

Level one will be taught twice a month during the semester, and level two as requested. Each level takes about an hour to complete.

“We want people to have an idea of what they can do to keep themselves safe,” Morgan said. “We like to tell people, ‘It’s your life, the active shooter is there to take that from you. He wants to take your hopes, your dreams, your goals; he wants to take all that from you but we want you to stop him from doing that.’”

Morgan said active-shooter situations are normally around 90 seconds, and a fast response time is two minutes for police.

“Most of the time when we get there the damage is done,” Morgan said.

Morgan said this training will not just help Southeast community members while on campus, but in any active-shooter environment.