JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW: ACTIVE SHOOTER ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
Active shooter incidents have proliferated both in schools and other public places in recent years.
Since the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, the FBI has recorded dozens of shootings
at all types of schools involving students, former students, and others not affiliated with the
school. Active shooters date back even further back and include the University of Texas tower
shootings in 1966. Charles Whitman killed 11 and wounded 31 more after killing his wife and
mother. In 1991, George Hennard drove his truck into a Luby’s Cafeteria in Texas, shot and
killed 23 people, wounding 27 more. More recently, in 2017 Stephen Paddock killed 60 and
wounded over 400 concert goers from a Las Vegas hotel room. Omar Mateen killed 49 people at
an Orlando nightclub in 2016. These shootings, added to the 2012 massacre in Newtown, CT and
the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, create a significant challenge to responding law
enforcement officers. Solo entry is one of the more contentious policy issues that arise from
active shooters. The implications to law enforcement training and practice are enormous; we live
in a country where freedom is the most treasured right. How does law enforcement crisis
response preserve those freedoms while developing a measured and effective response to active
shooting situations? What are the non-negotiables in terms of policy and practice? Consider
these questions as you complete this week’s article review.
INSTRUCTIONS
For this assignment, you will select a peer reviewed journal article from one of the databases
located in the University’s online library. The article will relate in some way to the reading
material (use of force) you have reviewed for this particular module. After you read the article,
download the Journal Article Review Template. Then, complete a Journal Article Review for
the article you read. You are not reviewing the article in the sense that you are assessing it, but
rather you are reviewing it so you can provide analysis and relate to your reader the main point
and how they relate to the area of crisis intervention. The assignment is not to be too much
shorter or longer than the example in the template. Ensure that you focus on the critical thinking
piece of discussing implications the article has on criminal justice as this is the most important
aspect of this process. How does the article’s content relate to the field of law enforcement? How
does it influence policy and practice? This can be accomplished in the comments,
recommendations, and conclusion sections of the assignment. Use an APA citation for the article
you choose; you may provide additional reference support if you choose to, but it is not required.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.