Assistance program
Preparing for Active Shooter Situations
$10.2 Million committed in FY2026–FY2026
- Agency
- Community Oriented Policing Service, Justice, Department of
- Assistance
- Not Applicable
- CFDA number
- 16.069
- What it does
- The COPS Office Preparing for Active Shooter Situations (PASS) Program is designed to meet the goal of the 2016 Protecting Our Lives by Initiating COPS Expansion (POLICE) Act in offering “scenario-based, integrated response courses designed to counter active shooter threats or acts of terrorism against individuals or facilitiesâ€) 34 U.S.C. § 10381(b)(17). The COPS Office seeks a provider who can train at least 20,000 first responders nationwide over the course of the award through scenario-based, multidisciplinary training classes. The training should be available to any jurisdiction in the U.S. and delivered in the desired location of the requesting agency, to include law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS). The target audience for the delivered training is a multidisciplinary team of first responders, which includes law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services (EMS), dispatchers, medical personnel, facility security, emergency management, and any other professionals who may reasonably be key to a successful integrated response to an active shooter event. The training provider should be able to assist the requesting agency in determining which responders make the most sense to be included in a multidisciplinary class. The training provider should be able to offer training in the following topic areas: • Incident command system training for EMS, fire and law enforcement to improve coordination when responding to active shooter incidents • Training for medical first responders on best practices to treat victims of active shooter incidents. • Training for emergency call center staff (dispatchers) to improve communications to fire, EMS and law enforcement agencies during active shooter incidents. In addition to providing integrated multidisciplinary training, the provider should also offer courses to law enforcement on the principles of team and solo officer movement, defense, tactics, car stops, entry techniques, evaluation of response, and the importance of post engagement requirements to develop better response to active shooter incidents. The training should be conducted in a controlled environment and evaluated to inform ongoing training. The provider should also offer a training course for school resource officers (SRO) and school personnel on both preparing their communities for a hostile event and responding to an active shooter. Part of the training should include information on a response and recovery plan and the importance of coordination with community resources and stakeholders, student engagement and problem solving, innovative methods to support communities in rural areas and with limited resources. Training should include simulation exercises in schools to ensure first responders and school staff are trained in a realistic environment. A minimum of ten percent of training directed to audiences responsible for active shooter response in schools and on campuses. This training will provide priority access for SROs funded through the CHP Program. All offered training should recognize that civilians are part of the first response to an active shooter and when they are prepared, they can be valuable to law enforcement in rapidly ending the threat. The training should have clear learning objectives, opportunities for simulated, scenario-based exercises, and participant evaluations of the course and materials for the purposes of continuous improvement. The provider may propose the use of existing curricula, the modification of curricula, and the development of new curricula to meet these requirements. The provider should be able to conduct ongoing evaluation of their training offerings, including short and long-term follow up with participating jurisdictions on the usefulness of the training and local efforts to reinforce knowledge and skills. The provider should demonstrate their ability to obtain certification for their training programs via state Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commissions or national certification bodies. In recognition of workforce turnover and the realities of skill depreciation, the provider should offer virtual, online, or other supplemental materials for all offered courses to aid agencies in reinforcing knowledge and skills with their multidisciplinary partners. Finally, the provider should demonstrate their ability to stay on top of the latest developments, standards, and after-action reviews of active shooter events, helping the COPS Office and its first responder partners to understand the evolving nature of these events and apply analysis of events to continually improving the quality of the training courses. As part of this work, the provider should develop a plan to test tactical responses in a controlled environment and evaluate to inform ongoing training.