Active Shooter Response: Contrasting ALICE with Get Out, Lock Out, Take Out

Are all training options equal?

With the rise in active shooter assaults has come a corresponding increase in training. But is all training equal? In the second interview in a series, Strategos Vice President Mark Warren contrasts the ALICE training method with Get Out, Lock Out, Take Out – the method developed and taught by Strategos. 

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What ALICE training is

ALICE is one of the most widely adopted civilian response programs in the country. The name is an acronym: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. It moved the conversation past "lockdown and wait," and that was an important step. It gave teachers, employees, and congregations permission to do more than hide.

The strength of ALICE is also its limitation. An acronym is a list, and a list implies an order. Under the stress of a real attack, people reach for whatever they rehearsed, in the sequence they rehearsed it. That is exactly the moment when a rigid sequence can work against you.

What Get Out, Lock Out, Take Out is

Strategos teaches a decision-based model: Get Out, Lock Out, Take Out. The wording is deliberate. These are not steps to perform in order. They are three options, and the right one depends entirely on where you are and where the threat is.

Get Out. If you can leave safely, leave. Distance is the best protection there is.

Lock Out. If you cannot get out, deny the attacker access. Lock and barricade, get out of sight, and prepare to defend the space if it is breached.

Take Out. As a last resort, when your life is in immediate danger and no other option exists, commit fully to stopping the attacker.

The real difference: a script versus a decision

The contrast is not really ALICE versus Strategos. It is a script versus a decision. A script tells you what to do. A decision framework trains you to read the situation and choose. The second is harder to teach, but it holds up better when nothing goes according to plan, and attacks never go according to plan.

This matters most for the people who are not security professionals: the receptionist, the volunteer greeter, the substitute teacher. They will not remember a five-letter acronym in order. They can remember three clear choices and the judgment to pick one.

Choosing a program for your organization

When you evaluate any active shooter program, ask three questions. Does it train decisions or memorization? Does it rehearse in your actual building, not a generic one? And does it include the medical piece, because survival often depends on what bystanders do before EMS arrives. A program that trains judgment, in your space, with bleeding control, will outperform a longer class that skips them.