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KIRKSVILLE, MISSOURI -- What should students and faculty do if an armed gunman attacks their school?

That’s what Kirksville R-III School Resource Officer Sara Holzmeier traveled to Columbia to find out. She attended a three-day course in ALICE Training.

ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.

Rather than the typical “lockdown,” in which students are expected to sit and wait for emergency services, they are now being given some survival options.

“[They can] barricade themselves in, so it makes it harder for someone to get into a classroom or to an office,” said Officer Holzmeier. “It gives them an option to maybe throw things at the intruder to distract them, and to throw their thought process off.”

This might not sit well with some parents, who fear for the safety of their children.

“I can't guarantee that no one’s going to get hurt,” said Officer Holzmeier. “It's just a survival option. Maybe, [rather than] all 20 kids in a classroom or all five people in an office getting killed, [instead] maybe one gets injured or killed, while the rest survive.”

Past events have shown that active-shooting incidents are often ended by a civilian stepping in.

"Intruder incidents or shooting incidents last anywhere between five and eight minutes, and even though I'm on campus, or the police are right downtown, our average response is usually anywhere from two to five minutes, so actually we're not the first responders. The employees, the teachers, the kids are. They're there; they're the first on the scene," said Officer Holzmeier.

This training could also prevent shooting events from occurring.

“It could be used as a deterrent to those that could possibly think about bringing a gun to school or to work. If they know that people aren’t just going to sit back or huddle in a corner and wait to be rescued or wait to die, and they know that someone’s going to stand up and take control back, it may deter them from actually doing it,” said Officer Holzmeier.

Officer Holzmeier hopes to have all Kirksville R-III school’s faculty and staff trained by next school year, and she is offering ALICE training to all businesses and organizations, as well. To schedule a training for your staff, students, or employees, contact the Kirksville Police Department at 660-785-6945, between eight a.m. – five p.m.