LITTLE ROCK, Ark — What would you do in an active shooting situation?
This is a question that many of us have considered, especially after recent mass shooting events. It's one that a Little Rock church is addressing head on through hands-on training.
The Church at Rock Creek held an active shooter presentation dedicated to staff that was also open to the public.
"Our campus is covered with security cameras and we have staff that monitors when we have services," said Nick Burt with The Church at Rock Creek. "We have a security team on staff that are off-duty police officers, so when we have services or major events we have security on site."
With four buildings on location and worship services that bring in hundreds every week, making sure everyone stays safe is a top priority for them.
Alongside cameras and a security team, church has other plans and safety strategies in place. Burt said the staff is always staying up to date on safety plans, so this training is just part of that continuous preparation.
"Obviously with current events this was something that popped up being top of mind right now," said Burt.
With the sense of urgency in place, church leaders brought in Ed Monk with Last Resort Firearms Training to provide a presentation.
Monk is a retired Army officer, has law enforcement experience, and is also a former high school teacher. His presentation focused on combating an armed intruder.
"Each individual has three options. That's fight, flee or, barricade," said Monk.
He said training against a potential threat isn't political, it's a matter of protecting oneself.
It's something that's been studied for decades as research from the last 30 years has shown him that an active shooter is more likely to be a young male.
"I put fight first because fight is best for humanity. The quicker we fight him [active shooter] and stop him, the lower the victim count will be," said Monk.
Using visual aids from recent mass shootings, he gave play-by-plays of different scenarios the church could see.
These hypothetical situations posed by Monk in turn prepare the church against a potential threat.
Monk said changing their policies from reacting passively is what can help a lot of organizations during an incident.
"Passive, which is what most organizations are, they hunker down [and] eventually call 911 and wait for somebody to come stop this thing. Change it to active, when we identify there's a shooter and we will immediately counter attack," said Monk.
Burt said it's sad that these types of measures have to be put in place, but if that's what it takes to keep everyone safe they're prepared to do so.