Walmart wrestles with active shooter response
The company’s computer training could use improvement
NEW YORK — Like most retailers, Walmart is accustomed to the everyday dealings of shoplifters. Now, it’s confronting a bigger threat: active shooters.
Four days after a man opened fire at one of its stores in El Paso and left at least 22 dead , the nation’s largest retailer is faced with how to make its workers and customers feel safe.
The discounter has long dealt with violent crimes at its stores across the country, including one that took place less than a week ago in Mississippi where a disgruntled employee killed two co-workers and wounded a police officer. In early November 2017, three customers were killed at a Walmart in Colorado in a random shooting by a lone gunman.
The El Paso store shooting, however, was the deadliest in the company’s history, Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove confirmed.
“No retailer is immune to a violent act,” Hargrove said. “That’s why we take training so seriously.”
Robert Moraca, vice president for loss prevention at the National Retail Federation, said he’s fielded lots of calls from retailers over the weekend, many of whom just wanted to go over their security protocols.
“We naturally have a heightened security awareness,” he said. He noted that most retailers have active shooting training programs for workers.
Walmart launched computerbased active shooter training in 2015 for all its employees and then in 2017, it made its workers take it on a quarterly instead of annual basis. Last month, Walmart started incorporating virtual reality technology
in its active shooter training.
The training focuses on three pillars: avoid the danger, keep your distance and lastly, defend.
In store locations with high crime, Walmart has off-duty policemen patrol the parking lots. It also uses a wide variety of technology including towers that have surveillance cameras in its parking lots, Hargrove said.
But most efforts are focused on curbing shoplifting. Hargrove noted that like with any catastrophic event, Walmart is reviewing its protocols.
As for its active shooter training, 26-year-old stoer associate Melissa Love in Long Beach, Calif., says it’s inadequate and does not make her feel prepared. She said employees essentially watch a video and there is no chance to practice.
Jesus M. Villahermosa, Jr., who leads a security consulting firm, says there’s not much that retailers can do to stop the next active shooter. But he noted that retailers make the mistake of doing their active training on computers.
“You don’t give people a chance to ask questions,” he said.
In the end, however, he says it’s not the responsibility of a retailer like Walmart to save people’s lives.
“You need to have your own plan,” he said.