Safety in schools: how to handle crisis situations with an active attacker

Attacks on schools and other soft targets have been increasing in recent years not only in the United States, but also in Europe and the Czech Republic. Any institution where a large number of people move around on a daily basis can be a potential target, and it is necessary to take into account that an attack can occur at any time and anywhere. Recent experiences from around the world, but also from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, for example, have shown that the first few minutes of an attack are often decisive. At the same time, the attacker does not even have to be armed with a firearm, a knife or other commonly available object can be enough to threaten the lives of staff and students.

The moment an attack occurs, teachers and students cannot rely on the intervention of the police and other emergency services, whose arrival typically takes 5 to 10 minutes. At the moment of the attack, the ability of the persons present to react to the situation is what is decisive. At the same time, without prior preparation, stress and chaos can significantly limit the ability to react rationally.

Run, hide and fight - this is the basic advice for the procedure in the case of an active shooter in the building. However, teachers and other school employees are not only on their own in the building, they also have to ensure the safety of the students. The main goal should be to protect all persons in the building from the attacker. For this, among other things, it is necessary to move the pupils to safe areas, ensure warning systems, lock the rooms early and communicate correctly with the pupils and the security forces. Without a well-prepared plan and training for such situations, the risk of mistakes that can mean life increases.

Who is GBH Academy?

The GBH Academy team is part of the GBH Defence private security group and will prepare you for real threats such as an active shooter attack. We will teach you to act efficiently, protect lives and minimize losses. GBH Academy is an officially accredited educational institution of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (Accreditation MV ČR – AK/I-48/2025). The group operates under the leadership of Lumír Němec, a former commander of the SOG special forces in Afghanistan and the special operations group of the URNA intervention unit, with many years of experience in the Army and Police of the Czech Republic. Abroad, he took care of the protection of the Czech ambassador in Baghdad and, together with the French Foreign Legion, helped to evacuate allied forces from Afghanistan. He also worked professionally with special forces from Great Britain, the USA and Italy.

Other instructors are professionals with over 15 years of experience in a military or law enforcement environment. The trainings were prepared in cooperation with experts from the United States and Israel, so the methods are based on real situations, including the protection and evacuation of diplomatic missions around the world. GBH Academy has already trained over a thousand institutions across sectors, from schools and social services to the National Theater and Czech Radio.

How does the training work and how can you finance it?

A course for educators it is scheduled for 8x45 minutes, but the program can be customized. At the beginning of the training, we will introduce you to the theoretical foundations of soft targets, phases and types of violent attacks. We will explain to you how to behave in the event of an attack, how to cooperate with the armed forces or how to arrange the safe evacuation of people. You will put all the acquired knowledge to the test in a real simulation of an attack with an active shooter, during which you will test your reactions and decision-making under stress.

The training can be fully financed from subsidy titles of the Operational Program Jan Amos Komenský (OP HOW). In addition, we can help you fill out the application for funding, or the schedule can be individually adapted to the needs of the school for forms of funding other than OP JAK.

On the YouTube channel GBH Academy you can see what the training looks like in practice. Here you can view course records from primary and secondary schools in Kralovice, Přerov or Šumavské Hoštice. "The training was beneficial in that I compared things that we lack at school, which we don't have here and what needs to be secured, because children are the most important thing we have. I would definitely recommend the training to other schools as well," the course was evaluated by the principal of Šumavská Hoštice elementary school, Ing. Petra Vaňková.

In addition to active attacker training, the GBH Academy group offers first aid courses as well as cybersecurity and cyberbullying courses taught by experts with years of experience. A comprehensive range of services is available on the website GBH Academy. Dohledat si nás můžete také na sociálních sítích Facebook, Instagram a TikTok pod názvem GBH Academy.