I was fortunate enough to attend the FL SEA seminar that took place Tuesday June 27 at the Godfrey Hotel in Tampa. To say the seminar was interesting would be a total understatement. The meeting was “Active Shooter Training” and was taught by Mr. Michael Ocello.

Mr. Ocello has a 35 year background in the adult industry, a former police officer, SWAT certified and an instructor. He did a masterful job keeping everybody interested for the hour and 45 minute class and we learned a lot!

The class wasn’t just about active shooters, it also talked about people’s behavior in drastic situations. Here are a few facts that stuck in my head …

Zero children died in school fires in the past 50 years! That shocked me but the reasoning is solid. Children (and teachers) are taught how to react in case of a fire. They run numerous “fire drills” every year teaching how to exit a classroom, follow the hallways and go outside to safety.

When a catastrophe happens, people always “follow the mass crowd”. This isn’t always the right thing to do. Make sure you know where the exits are in any room or hall you enter. If a fire breaks out, people always want to go back to the same place they entered when an exit door might be closer and safer and much less crowded.

In 2021 there were 61 active attacks (a 50% increase from 2020) … in 2022 there were 202 mass shootings (within the first six months). These numbers are astounding and very worrisome. Ninety-eight percent of active shooters are individuals and the average shooting time is 15 minutes. Most shootings happen inside businesses followed by outdoors and schools. 42% of all attackers have NO connection with the location (past employees, love affairs, etc). Many are occasional customers or people with racial/social biases. Many shooters just want to kill as many people as they can and target busy locations.

If you are unfortunate enough to encounter an active shooter … what should you do? There are three stages of disaster response:

#1) Denial = Make sure you know what is happening and justify the moment. Understand what is going on around you …

#2) Deliberation = Don’t panic or freeze. Calm yourself, take a few deep breaths and shift your emotions to anger …

#3) Decisive Moment = Hopefully things won’t come to this but be ready to defend yourself. Remember YOU have to be responsible for saving YOU!

Remember these three things:

AVOID – Always try to run and get yourself out of danger. Know your exits … look for doors, windows and even break out drywall to escape.

DENY – Try to hide. If you can find a safe room, lock and barricade the door, shut off the lights, silence your cellphone and stay as quiet as possible.

DEFEND – If it comes to this you need to keep yourself calm and alert. Find any way possible to defend yourself and be aggressive. Stay close to the doorway and try to grab the shooter’s weapon (the closer you are to his weapon the harder it is for him to fire at you). Find something to fight back with (a fire extinguisher, metal bar, any type of tool, etc.) Remember, this is your enemy he is there for one reason and that is to injure or kill you. If it gets to this point, bring as much violence as you can muster. When it is safe, always try to call 911 as soon as possible. The average respond time is three minutes so every second counts.

I was very impressed with the seminar and Michael Ocello.

FL SEA is a federally registered trade association that was established in 2006 for Florida’s adult club industry. I want to thank Don Kleinhans (President FL SEA), Angelina Spencer-Crisp (Executive Director of FL SEA) and everybody who attended this informative seminar.

Paul AllenNightMoves Multi-Media, Inc.