Page 9 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2016

Bringing Calm to Chaos: A Critical Incident Review the U.S. Department of Justice and its partners can
of the San Bernardino Public Safety Response to the disseminate critical lessons learned to the entire field,
December 2, 2015, Terrorist Shooting Incident at the enabling comprehensive preparation and response and
Inland Regional Center. potentially saving lives.

By Rick Braziel, Frank Straub, George Watson, and *Our thanks go out to the many organizations whose
Rod Hoops, Critical Response Initiative. Washington, members responded so bravely at the time of the attack,
DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. especially to those who willingly relived this painful
event to share their experiences and offer recommenda-
n this 162-page 2016 report, Ronald L. Davis, Director tions that can help other agencies in the future. All of
Iof the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, them are to be acknowledged for their valuable contri-
states, “As many of us watched butions to public safety.
events unfold after the terrorist at-
tack in San Bernardino in December “I encourage all law enforcement
2015, there was one source of re- and public safety leaders to consider
assurance in those dark hours: the the lessons learned in San Bernardino
exemplary response of the police and how they can be applied to
department, sheriff’s department, their own agencies. Terrorist activi-
probation department, emergency ties and other mass casualty events
services, and FBI, who all came to- are rare, but as we have seen in Or-
gether to prevent additional deaths lando, Paris, and other locales, they
and injuries. are unfortunately becoming more
common—almost always without
“There is much to be learned from warning. And as we saw in San Ber-
the response to this tragic event. nardino, advance preparation can
One important takeaway is that the be of enormous help in the midst of
responding agencies were well pre- tragedy and chaos.”
pared. Many responders noted that
their preparation was due in large From the Executive Summary, “[t]he
part to lessons learned from previous purpose of this Office of Community
critical incident reports. This acknowledgement high- Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Critical Inci-
lights the importance of documenting lessons learned, dent Review is to critically, objectively, and thoroughly
which can be of great value not only to the agency which examine the public safety response—including prepara-
experienced the event but to other agencies as well. For tion and aftermath—to the December 2, 2015, terrorist
this reason, the Police Foundation, in coordination with shooting in San Bernardino. This review provides a de-
the COPS Office, conducted a critical incident review tailed overview of the incident response; lessons learned
of the shooting and surrounding events. By examining to improve responding agencies’ policies, procedures,
the public safety response of the December 2015 attack, tactics, systems, culture, and relationships; and guid-
this report provides additional lessons learned from all ance to other agencies and first responders as they pre-
aspects of the event, including the aftermath. pare for responses to terrorist, active shooter or other
hostile events, or mass casualty incidents.
“As was demonstrated in San Bernardino, a detailed re-
view can be of great value to a law enforcement agency, “It is important that the lessons identified in this report
enabling significant improvement of policies, proce- be studied and applied by public safety agencies as they
dures, systems, and relationships. It can also help other work to enhance the safety of their community and first
public safety agencies prepare for mass casualty inci- responders and possibly prevent future attacks.”
dents. Through after action assessments such as these,

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