02/01/2011 -The New York Police Department has released recommendations to their private sector security and counterterrorism partners on mitigating the risks associated with active-shooter incidents. 

The catalyst for the report, according to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, was the violent phenomenon's constant recurrence.

"After the Virginia Tech shooting and Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Police Department undertook a statistical analysis of active shooter incidents from 1966 to 2011. Its results are compiled in this report,"he said in a statement.

The report was released nearly two weeks after suspect Jared Loughner allegedly shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in the head during an attack that killed 6 and wounded 12 others in Tucson, Arizona. Loughner has sincepled not guilty to three federal charges of attempted murder.

Thereport's recommendations(.pdf), released during anNYPD SHIELD conference, fall into three categories: procedures, systems, and training.

According to the NYPD, some of procedures building security managers should conduct include identifying multiple evacuation routes and practicing them under different conditions, establishing shelter locations for people to hide out in,  and choosing a point-of-contact for police to work with in event of an attack.

The buildings themselves should also be outfitted with credential-based access control systems, CCTV coverage, multiple real-time communication options, and elevators that can be controlled or locked down through a central command.

Building security personnel should also train its occupants in active-shooter survival methods,outlined by this Department of Homeland Security document (.pdf). According to DHS, occupants have only three choices during an active-shooter incident: evacuate, hide, or fight back. 

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