Crisis management response to the 2012 theater shooting

Theater Shooting

The term crisis originates from the Greek poet Homer in his great story of war and triumph the Iliad. In this story the battle of Troy was held in a geographical area called Crisis. The term has evolved today to mean any unexpected event or happening that creates certain levels of uncertainty that threatens the peaceful existence of the environment. Surprise, challenge and struggle are all important qualities of a crisis.

Today's modern world provides plenty of opportunity for crisis and therefore crisis management. In a large crisis the infrastructure and institutional organizations responsible for the health and welfare of its citizens are tested and their actions are put in to use for better or for worse. Crisis management is usually reserved for governmental and law enforcement agencies that are armed and equipped with the appropriate resources to fix and alleviate the situation that may be presented as harmful on a large scale to the masses of population.

Also in today's culture, mass killing, death and darkness are very popular themes amongst the people in western civilization. The military complex that is so widespread throughout America centers around the death and destruction of other peoples. Media and television outlets promote a culture of death, war and despair most of the time. Movies, books and programming is excessively violent, gory and nihilistic in its philosophy. Mass shootings in America in schools and other public places are common place yet still proved a level of crisis necessary to shock and awe people into new levels of understanding and awareness.

Mass shootings in America in the last two decades have taken on a ritualistic quality that speaks to greater physical and spiritual forces that appear to be at work within our own communities. It seems that the simple regard for life and the appreciation for other's to live has significantly diminished when such acts of horror are played for seemingly no reason. Preventing such attacks and events is a job for law enforcement officials that seem to be lacking, however when faced with such events, reactions and life saving efforts are usually performed in a heroic manner. In many cases if it were not for mass shootings, police and other law enforcement officials would not be able to show off their prowess and management skills.

One such shooting on 20 July 2012 provides a useful example for learning how to incorporate some of the finer notions about law enforcement and their role in mass shootings and other dangerous crisis. In this case, an alleged shooter, entered a movie theater on a warm summer night and began shooting and attacking movie goers as they waited for their show to come on screen. The terror and sheer horror that accompanies such an action is disturbing and may distort the truth in some manner when fully exploring this idea about mass violence, preventing it, and how to do such a task with the law enforcement resources currently available.

The purpose of this essay is to utilize the Aurora, Colorado shooting as a case study to investigate and address the role and roles of criminal justice organization in the management of a crisis. This essay will discuss and highlight the responses by criminal justice agencies and they affected the outcome of the total situation. The essay will discuss the lessons learned from this shooting and how they can be applied to homeland security measures. This essay will present a research statement and then proceed with a case summary. The literature extant on this issue will also be reviewed and discussed as to its relevance to the importance of the case study.

To help make the most out of this situation and provide some reasonable explanations for what happened or what is currently happening, each important faction of the criminal justice response for this case will be evaluated and discussed as to find ways to improve on their performance. Before concluding this essay will highlight ways in which other systematic improvements may be made on the entire approach and elaborate on solutions and recommendations for other agencies who may be faced with a very similar tragedy and will be expected to perform at a high level of standard.

Research Statement

The purpose of this research is to gather important data and information regarding the response to the crisis that occurred at the Aurora movie theater were 12 people were shot down in cold blood while watching a Batman movie on 20 July 2012. This research looks to investigate whether or not more could have been done by certain criminal justice or law enforcement agencies during this challenging time. The research will try to unlock some of the key problems that are associated with this discussion and the many political and other distorting factors that may be or have a detrimental effect on understanding what exactly happened on this fateful and violent night in the rocky mountain town of Aurora, CO.

Before looking at the detailed response that occurred during this crisis, it is very important to set the stage correctly and provide a detailed and accurate case summary that provides the background to the performance. It is important to note that this case has not been fully investigated by law enforcement officials, and the main suspect for this crime has not even been tried yet. It is therefore tempting yet premature to suggest that all the correct answers will be summarily delivered in this research when many facts of the case are simply not known yet. The true value of investigation such as this should focus on a myriad of items to gather a grammatical base on which to formulate opinions and arguments that can distinguish fact from fiction.

The literature available to this topic is also woefully short on providing any substantial information about the case and this effort is relegated to a preliminary understanding of the events that occurred that night. This research however can provide some useful knowledge regarding the shooting response and identify behaviors and actions that can provide some ideas on how to best handle crisis situations despite the overwhelming conditions that usually accompany such violent and turbulent actions.

Literature Review

Due to the extreme nature of these events in Aurora, CO much has been written on the subject of James Holmes and his infamous "Batman" terrorist attack that saw the killing of 12 innocent people. There are mixed and differing opinions on many issues, but in particular the response of the law enforcement agencies has received both praise and extreme criticism for their handling of these events on the night of the shooting. The literature review will examine a variety of opinion and factual recollection to help summarize and make sense of the response issues that are present within this case.

Different aspects of the case will be approached to help provide a wide and objective examination of the evidence that is available for research and educational efforts. Unfortunately, due to the incompleteness of the case itself as the world awaits the trial of James Holmes, this literature review also will suffer from incompleteness due the future chapters that will be unveiled and written about in the near future at the time of his trial.

Prevention

Crisis management is often thought as a way for law enforcement officials and other criminal justice organizations to assist after the fact. In reality the best management strategy is thoroughly based in the idea of prevention. Bernstein (2012) agreed with this approach to crisis management as he investigated ways mass shootings can be prevented. He wrote "In the years I have worked in crisis management almost all the comments by clients about shooters have been about how they would respond. Unless I brought it up I can't recall anyone talking about how they would try to avoid violence in the first place."

Deterrence is a practical means to preventing crisis in many ways. In the case of the Aurora theater incident not enough signals were picked up on during the time when this tragedy could have been prevented. The idea is to recognize behavior in the pre-attack stages. "According to the FBI, 81% of the time before a mass shooting the shooter gives clues to others of what he is planning. Vernon says there is NOT a single profile that fits the shooters, but there IS one thing they have in common: similar behaviors."

Colorado is not a stranger to mass shootings and violence of this particular kind. The Columbine High School tragedy of 1998 suggested that this community, which includes Aurora and the greater Denver area is susceptible to these kind of attacks. An obvious need to prepare law enforcement officials, both local and federal for these types of attacks in this area appear to been more necessary in the deterrence aspect of this case study. Ferner (2012) pointed to certain ideas on the similarities of these attacks as he focused on the guns themselves as the ultimate cause for this senseless murders. He wrote "in a state like Colorado, which despite having the dubious distinction of being the home of two of the nation's worst mass shootings in recent history, it may be more difficult than it seems to sway public opinion in the Centennial State toward increased support for gun control." Unfortunately the politicizing of guns and assault weapons has done little to effect of crisis management.

Simpson (2012) suggested other parallels between the shootings that some would believe would help criminal justice organizations become more prepared for such shootings especially in areas that are more prone to gun violence and rebellion. The author wrote "Both attacks appear to have been the result of careful planning and stockpiling of weapons, and produced similar death tolls. Both unfolded in places where many young people were likely to be victims -- in places that are so much a part of everyday life that, until something horrible happens, people give little thought to safety."

In some aspects these types of shootings cannot be prevented by criminal justice or law enforcement agencies, their demands are too broad and too difficult to expect any type of long lasting and enduring success. The recognition that society itself is inherently a dangerous place, with many risks and challenges, will certainly help people psychologically grasp the lack of force in which law enforcement agencies can have in predicting and ultimately preventing such terrorist attacks that are performed with such obvious disregard for human life, truth and compassion.

Preliminary Investigations

Another aspect of this case study deals with the frequency of crisis in today's modern world. It is obvious to most that terrorist attacks of this kind occur much more frequently than we would like to admit. Each incident has its own particular characteristics and own specific set of circumstances and details. Familiarity with these events should provide law enforcement agencies some advantage in management of crisis of these types of crimes in the near future. Along with the events themselves, training and education of these types of shootings should at least reasonable assist in training leaders within these criminal justice organizations to finding better solutions in the problems that they face.

In the time since the shootings many investigations, both internal and external from all facets of the institutions involved in this case study have been commissioned. There is also much secrecy behind the investigation as new gag order laws and restrictions have been placed on the information, making it difficult to ascertain any substantial facts about the case in many ways. Illescas (2013) explained how outside involvement in assessing the performance of the management of the crisis can be beneficial and even mandatory. He wrote " Aurora's City Council is reconsidering launching an outside review of the city's response to last summer's theater shooting after halting it in February at the urging of the district attorney. Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler sent a letter to the Aurora city attorney, urging the council to scrap the outside probe until after the arraignment of alleged theater shooter James Holmes because it potentially caused problems with his prosecution."

The International City/Council Management Association (ICMA) produced a summary of the events for its members consisting of thousands of local leaders in government and management. The report revealed lessons learned from the shooting at the theater and was published at their annual conference in September 2013, in Boston, MA.

This report demonstrated the specific needs that were unique to Aurora, CO and how management or leadership within organizations for managing crisis such as mass shootings can learn from this particular incident. According to this report the police responded to the theater in 83 seconds from the first report of the incident. In the next 21 minutes 52 police cars were on the scene. In less than an hour all injured victims were evacuated from the scene in less than one hour from the first reported call of the incident. While these time figures are important they do not reveal some of the finer details of the incident themselves, but provide useful data to help predict acceptable allowances of response time in large crisis situations as experience in Aurora during this time.

This report also commented on the important, and sometimes overlooked aspect of the suspects explosively rigged apartment. This in itself was great effort performed by the various agencies of law enforcement assigned to this particular duty. The report claimed that remembering the basics of active shooter planning and training exercises were the best approach in this mostly unpreventable scourge of terror and wanton violence. A heavy emphasis on interoperability between local and federal agencies was discussed as being a way to alleviate some of the chaotic challenges that are present for law enforcement and criminal justice agencies looking to successfully manage a crisis and still protect the rights of the citizens.

Mental Illness

The role of criminal justice organizations or law enforcement institutions are becoming more and more dependent or intertwined with the mental health of the communities they protect and serve. Mental health as an operative risk in law enforcement operations is now considered an important way all levels of organizations from the FBI to the local sheriff can and should incorporate in their duties. Mental health is a very tricky term to discuss and there is always social stigmas attached to the phrase, making it that much more difficult for police to use the diagnosis to some benefit for society.

Strasser (2012) agreed with the idea that a more proactive stance must be taken with regards to mental illness and mass terrorist attacks as seen in Aurora. She wrote "After the horrible shooting at Virginia Tech, the state changed the structure of reporting mentally ill patients to the gun registry, including those who seek outpatient mental health services instead of just those who have been committed. Just four years out from when the law was passed, the number of mentally ill people who are blocked from obtaining a firearm in Virginia doubled. Other states haven't been so vigilant. In fact, many states are incredibly slow to report even those mentally ill people who check in for inpatient services."

Ignoring the Warning Signs

It is disturbing to know that he suspect in these horrible tragedies, James Holmes "met with not one, but at least three mental health professionals at the University of Colorado prior to the massacre. How long he met with each one and the depth of their involvement is not clear, but it adds to the picture of Holmes being clearly on their radar in the time period leading up to the shootings." In this case study, mental illness played a deep and profound role in the ability of criminal justice organizations and law enforcement agencies to effectively do their duties. Something happened however that prevented the medical industry from notifying the police of the danger, or perhaps they saw no real threat at all in Holmes. After all, there was little in his personality to suggest that he was capable of doing such damage to other people in such a crude and cruel fashion.

Others have reported this the other way and puts into question the ability of the police to synthesize and utilize information when it is present. Christopher (2013) reported that one of Holmes' psychiatrist did in fact go to the police to warn of a potential attack that Holmes was planning. He reported "About a month before the deadly mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Fenton warned campus police at the University of Colorado that James Holmes was dangerous, according to documents released by prosecutors. Police deactivated Holmes' student ID, but according to reports, it is unclear what else, if anything, was done with the information provided by Dr. Fenton. Holmes, of course, would go on to kill 12 people, and wound 58 others, in that horrific shooting."

Using Mental Illness For Indication of Future Actions

Police and other interested parties interested in successful crisis management should examine the correlations between state mental health spending and gun violence. It appears that the less states spend on mental health services the more likely that gun death occurs. Violence is a clear indicator of mental illness, temporary or permanent, and the fluidity of the human's mind suggests that mental illness is too difficult of a predictor for such crimes. After all, we all can go crazy and become emotionally unbalanced.

The mass murder is different and thinks different than most of us who experience legitimate anger and impulses of violence as all of us sometimes do. James Holmes had distinctive characteristics that set him apart from the rest of humanity and, if true, the police ignored these warning signs, than a greater problem is at hand. Ignoring problems suggests a dereliction of duty and a lack of discipline and leadership throughout whatever criminal justice organization demonstrates these qualities.

Active-Shooter Protocol

One way in which criminal justice agencies and law enforcement organizations can help remedy the problems that occurred in the Aurora movie theater is understanding and practicing active shooter protocols that have been instilled in training and education. This tactical approach can help and assist each and every member of the team assembled to combat this type of terrorist attack.

Richardson (2013) reported how this type of training and protocol was extremely effective in another recent school shooting tragedy. He wrote "t wasn't Colorado's tough new gun laws but the active-shooter protocol followed by deputies that stopped a teen gunman Friday from killing anyone other than himself at Arapahoe High School, the governor said Sunday. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper credited local law enforcement, in particular the sheriff's deputy assigned to the suburban school, with the quick response that prevented the shooter from unleashing a Columbine-style massacre."

While active shooter protocols that are being implemented and used in law enforcement agencies across the country, the question remains if any type of protocol could have stopped what Holmes allegedly did on that night? The threat of violence and death is everywhere in nature and trying to eliminate it out of the human experience is not only impractical, but impossible. Life itself is dependent upon death and the qualities we exude during our human lives are only meaningful in the face of death. On a larger social issue, police and criminal justice organizations need to become more adjusted to society's need to explore death and the afterlife and perhaps such tragedies that occurred in Aurora could be avoided in the future due to a new widespread understanding.

Recognizing Threats as a Means To Success

In large and complex problem such as the Holmes shooting presents, it is best, wise and prudent to find simple approaches that can create fundamental success. Boiling things down to their simplest level, criminal justice agencies and law enforcement organizations need to become proficient in identifying real and significant threats. Threat itself is everywhere, but the profession of law enforcement requires its members to decipher such threats for the benefit of society. Successful people in this field need a creative imagination, and the ability to think beyond the average and normal.

Threats can come in many styles and disguises. Extremists and hate groups are littered throughout our country as our freedoms tolerate such free speech and expression. The dangers of these freedoms must also be respected as well in order for them to be of any true vale to a society and its citizens. The importance of threat assessment becomes front and center in the attention of the law enforcement community as an efficient, effective and economic approach to managing the ever growing possibilities of terroristic threats.

Threats come in many ways and fashions. These are often communicated by warnings and threats. The gathering of weapons, creation of death lists and other morbid behavior all can accompany those who use threatening ways . As stated before, it appears that Holmes' psychiatrist, Lynne Fenton did discover some threat that bothered here so much that she felt she needed to contact the police.

Besides Fenton's warning there were other incidents that portrayed Holmes as a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Rogers (2012) wrote "On June 7, just weeks before the shooting, Holmes, a PhD student at the University of Colorado -- Denver, reportedly failed a key oral exam. Three days later, he made the highly unusual move of informing the university he wanted to drop out of the program. Holmes spent months stockpiling thousands of bullets and head-to-toe ballistic gear without raising any red flags with authorities," the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Holmes was able to buy 160 pounds of ammunition from a FedEx store without actually breaking the law." In addition to this, FIB showed that 81% of school violence incidents there was leakage or other persons who had knowledge that something to occur.

While the police and law enforcement agencies have responsibility to protect the citizens they have sworn an oath to protect, it is up to the community at large in many instances to police their own ranks. The police and other criminal justice agencies are not omniscient and cannot solve every problem, that is not their intent. Rather mass shooting incidents are collective problems that need collective solutions where everyone is doing their part to help find the best solution to the problems at hand.

Solutions and Recommendations

The ability of mankind to plan ahead and envision a future with their imaginative skills has given our species and advantage on planet Earth. The problems that the Aurora theater shooting reveals that planning becomes a larger part of the solution that is necessary to prevent or minimize the damage of such an attack. Historically many individuals and organizations have not viewed security, safety and terrorism as legitimate, or top priority threats. In many cases they are factually and statistically correct however, the prioritization still needs to be implemented due to the large risks involved. Tragedies such as the one allegedly perpetrated by James Holmes have a lasting and profound effect on the collective psyche of the nation. A national schizophrenia is at risk from setting in unless terrorism and actions described earlier in such militaristic fashions are understood and eliminated.

Pre-Incident Planning provides a great way to address this problem. Basically, this type of planning should include leadership from many key players in different homeland security agencies. These should include law enforcement, fire department, emergency medical teams and services, school systems and any other emergency management system that may be unique to the circumstance of specific locale.

Identifying key targets, where shooters can reap the most damage should be a priority in any and all pre-incident planning attempts. Targets are usually where the violence can create the most damage. Children and defenseless citizens are often targeted due to their inability to fight back. All schools, colleges and universities are obvious choices for targets because of their likelihood of low resistance. Large and crowded establishments also provide useful targets for terrorist and shooters due to their ability to shock and cause a large scene. The recent bombing at the Boston Marathon demonstrated the power that the world stage can have on amplifying a terror attack . These targets should also be prioritized in accordance with agencies' leadership strategy, operations and policies.

Planning is useless unless criminal justice agencies and law enforcement organizations put that planning into effect and train everyone who needs to be trained on the implications and fundamentals of the plan. Training must be conducted to create an immediate and fundamental response. Drills and practice are required to become proficient and the proper training can be the difference in saving many lives in a crisis or no lives in a crisis.

Certain key issue should be addressed in the approach to help lessen the chances of a shooting attack as demonstrated in the Aurora theater incident. First responders are critical and they set the tone for the remainder of the incident. Securing the scene is of the utmost importance in any criminal investigation or event and this is even more important in mass shooting events due to the possibility of multiple shooters that could escape without being noticed. Establishing command and control at the scene is also very important so that leadership can effectively and efficiently direct operations as dictated by unfolding events.

Conclusions

As the events continue to unfold regarding this horrible tragedy that saw 12 innocent people being shot down, the community at large is still waiting for answers that can help them understand and eventually make sense of the violence. Law enforcement agencies and criminal justice organizations response to what happened that night is still being developed as to how things went right and how things went wrong. Regardless of the blame, these organizations can still become better at what they do and continue to make efforts to minimize the likelihood of these attacks happening again at such a large level.

While prevention is the best approach in preventing mass shootings and terrorist attacks, law enforcement agencies must focus on this aspect of crime fighting and protection. The alleged killer in this case study, James Holmes, was an ideal candidate for such an attack and those closest to him including some of his psychiatric counselors knew that something is awry. It is this challenge of prevention and protecting rights that is at the heart of the difficulties for these groups in warding off these types of attacks.

In most cases, as in this particular one, pre-planning by coordinate groups representing the many interests of law and enforcement must come together and work as a team if any real progress is to be made on this issue. Identifying the right threats and classifying them appropriately becomes an important task and centerpiece to this type of approach. This approach however is a collective effort that require the cooperation of citizens and everyday people alike. Displaying a strong idea of common sense and reason is also necessary for leadership elements atop of these organizations to help direct and lead their people to the right answers and eventually protect and secure their human rights.

Mass shooters are an unfortunate consequence of modern society and the only real cure is to fix the problem from the inside out. Such blatant disregard for human life is indicative of a much larger problem that lies in humanity's spirit and soul. Law enforcement agencies and criminal justice organizations are essential in guiding and demonstrating the correct ways of behavior to help facilitate a more peaceful and beneficent society that we can all share and enjoy.