Active ShooterTraining Programs

Our Active Shooter Training Programs prepare your workforce, security team, and leadership to respond effectively if an active threat happens, not just to recognize the danger, but to know exactly what to do in the first minutes. Our programs are developed and delivered by law enforcement veterans with real-world active shooter response experience, and we go beyond the standard "Run, Hide, Fight" framework to build a curriculum around your specific building, staff roles, and risk profile.

Anyone responsible for people in a physical space benefits, including corporate offices, schools, healthcare facilities, houses of worship, government buildings, and commercial properties. We typically train at three levels: general workforce (every employee, not just security), security teams (advanced tactical response), and leadership (crisis decision-making and communications). If your organization has employees, visitors, or the public on-site, this applies to you.

This training goes far beyond generic theory: every session is built around the actual layout and roles of your specific site. Depending on the track, participants learn how to recognize a developing threat before it escalates, along with Run/Hide/Fight decision making adapted to their specific environment. Sessions also cover emergency communication and evacuation protocols, and for security teams, coordination with law enforcement and first responders. Executives focus on crisis leadership, internal and external communications, and legal considerations, while all participants come away with a clear understanding of post incident response and support planning.

General workplace safety training covers everyday hazards, such as fires, medical emergencies, and standard evacuations. Active shooter training is a different discipline entirely: it's built around an intentional, fast-moving threat, where the right response depends on split-second situational awareness and decision-making under real stress. We treat it as its own program, not a slide added to an existing safety deck.

We generally recommend an annual refresher at minimum, and GTS builds recertification into every program rather than treating it as a one-time session. You should also retrain sooner after any major change, such as a new facility, an updated emergency plan, a leadership change, or a security incident of any kind. Response skills fade if they're never practiced, so consistency matters more than any single session.

Yes, this is actually how we build every program. No two buildings, staff structures, or visitor patterns are the same, so a generic script doesn't hold up in a real incident. We design the curriculum around your specific environment, personnel profile, and organizational culture, and we can deliver it in person at your location or virtually, depending on what fits your team.

It's not a lecture-only format. Programs include tabletop exercises and live scenario simulations alongside instruction, so participants actually practice the decisions they'd need to make, not just hear about them. These exercises also tend to surface gaps in your existing emergency plan that wouldn't show up any other way, which is often as valuable as the training itself.

No, team size isn't really the deciding factor; exposure is. A 15-person office and a 500-person campus both have people to protect, they just need different-scaled versions of the same program. We scale the training to your organization's size, layout, and risk profile rather than applying a one-size-fits-all package regardless of headcount.

The most common triggers we see are opening a new facility, updating an emergency response plan, completing a broader security assessment that flagged gaps, or simply realizing your team has never actually practiced what to do in a real incident. If your current plan exists on paper but hasn't been tested in a room with real people, that's usually the sign.

Employees and leadership walk away with a working understanding of emergency procedures, communication protocols, and exactly what their role is during an active threat, not just abstract awareness. With over 25 years of operational experience and 500+ engagements delivered by our team, GTS builds these programs to strengthen your organization's actual response capability over time, with annual recertification keeping that readiness current rather than letting it fade after one session.