Active Shooter Risk Audits in Alaska

01The framework

What Federal Guidance Asks Organizations to Plan For

The Interagency Security Committee's 2021 guide on planning and response to an active shooter, published through CISA, uses the FBI's definition of an active shooter and organizes preparedness into three phases. Pre-incident planning covers workplace violence prevention, communication, training and exercises. Incident actions center on the Run, Hide, Fight options. Post-incident recovery addresses employees and operations. That guide was written for federal facilities, but its structure works well for private employers, and our Alaska corporate investigations team audits against it.

The guide is careful to describe Run, Hide, Fight as a list of response options rather than a fixed sequence. Running means evacuating quickly and quietly and leaving belongings behind. Hiding means barricading, silencing devices and staying out of sight until identifiable law enforcement gives an all-clear. Fighting is the absolute last resort when neither of the others is safe. An audit tests whether your building and people can realistically use each option. Our general risk management reviews place this alongside other threats.

• Pre-incident: prevention, communication, training, exercises
• Incident: Run, Hide, Fight as options
• Post-incident: people and operations recovery

02Prevention

Threat Reporting and Workplace Violence Prevention

Most prevention starts with someone noticing something and saying it. We review how employees report concerning behavior, who receives those reports, how quickly they are assessed and whether reporters are protected from retaliation. We look for gaps such as reports that sit in one manager's inbox, contractors with no reporting channel and night shifts with no supervisor, a common pattern in workplace theft cases too. Facts about a specific concern can be gathered lawfully through our workplace surveillance and interview work at counsel's direction.

Assessing a person of concern must stay within the law. The Alaska Human Rights Act, AS 18.80.220, bars discrimination because of disability and other traits, so decisions should rest on conduct, not assumptions, and counsel should be involved. Alaska's stalking statute expressly covers GPS monitoring and installing devices or software to observe someone, so any monitoring must be lawful. We never attach a tracker or install monitoring software where we lack the right to do so. Lawful employee background checks can help with hiring decisions.

03Domestic violence spillover

When a Protective Order Reaches the Workplace

Violence at work sometimes begins at home. Under AS 18.66.100, Alaska courts can issue domestic violence protective orders that bar contact, require the respondent to stay away from the petitioner's workplace and, in some circumstances, order firearm surrender. When an employee has such an order, the workplace may be one of the places it protects. We review whether your organization has a confidential way for employees to share that information and a plan to act on it. Our stalking investigations show how these cases develop, and a personal information wipe can make an employee's home address harder to find online.

Practical measures are usually simple: a photo of the respondent at reception, a changed parking spot, an escort to the car, a different shift. What matters is that someone is responsible and the employee's privacy is respected. We interview the people who would carry out those steps and test whether they know what to do. Where a respondent's whereabouts are a concern for counsel, our evasive person skip tracing uses lawful methods only.

04The building

Entrances, Rooms That Lock and Ways Out

The physical review starts at the perimeter and works inward. We note every public and staff entrance, how each is controlled and what can be seen from it. Inside, we identify rooms that lock from the inside, rooms with more than one exit, interior routes to the outside and places where people would naturally gather. The ISC guide recommends verified points of accessible egress and pre-designated assembly points for people who need help evacuating, and we check both. Anchorage investigators handle most Southcentral walk-throughs, and Palmer coverage serves the valley.

Alaska conditions change the physical picture. In winter darkness, exterior assembly areas may be unlit, snow may block secondary exits, and a parking lot that is visible in July is pitch black in December. People evacuating in extreme cold need somewhere to go. We walk sites at the hours that matter and photograph what we find. Interior workplaces are reviewed by our Fairbanks investigators, where January temperatures make outdoor assembly a safety question of its own.

05Alaska realities

Planning for Longer Response Distances

In much of Alaska, help can be far away. Many communities are reached only by air or water, and a February 2026 GAO report notes that Village Public Safety Officers, who work with the Alaska State Troopers in some Native communities, are in general not trained or equipped to address felony-level crimes. We do not estimate response times; we ask your organization to plan as if help may take longer than it would in a city. That affects how long people may need to stay hidden and how much first aid capability a site needs. Bethel coverage reflects that planning for Western Alaska.

Remote camps, lodges and processing plants face the same challenge with fewer people on site. We review who would call for help and how, whether satellite communications work, how the site would account for everyone and what medical capability exists before outside help arrives. Plans for villages or tribal facilities should be developed with community leadership; investigations involving tribal land follow the permission the community requires. Our Utqiagvik investigators plan North Slope reviews accordingly, as does our Kotzebue coverage.

06Readiness

Training, Drills and Bleeding Control

The ISC guide calls for scenario-based training that covers a range of variables, and its federal policy requires active shooter training for new employees during onboarding and annually afterward. It also highlights basic hemorrhage control, noting that tourniquets have been shown to be lifesaving, and recommends that staff know where first-aid equipment is located. We review what training your people have had, whether it reaches every shift and contractor, and where bleeding control kits are. Training vendors are your choice; we assess the program. Our investigative consulting can help prioritize gaps.

Drills reveal what documents hide. The guide advises announcing all drills and exercises before conducting them, and we follow that advice: no surprise simulations. We can observe an announced exercise, note where people went, how long lockdown took and whether the alert reached everyone, then report what worked and what did not. Unannounced testing of cash or access controls, a very different exercise, is handled through our shock audits.

07Recovery and price

After the Incident, Licensing and Cost

Recovery planning is the most neglected phase. The ISC guide addresses both employees and operations: reunifying people with families, supporting those affected, communicating accurately and restoring the business. We check whether your plan names who does each of those things and how families would be contacted. Alaska's OSHA-approved State Plan covers most private sector and all state and local government workers, and counsel or a safety professional can confirm what written plans apply. Our emergency preparedness review covers other disasters in the same format.

Pricing begins at $1,200 for the audit, extra hours run at $100 each, and any travel beyond the road system gets its own written quote. Scope and price are confirmed before work begins, and findings are confidential to leadership or counsel. No Alaska agency issues a statewide investigator license; the Municipality of Anchorage and the cities of Fairbanks and Kodiak do regulate private detectives, so we check their rules before any field visit there. The audit team is led by people with military and federal law enforcement experience. All rates are on our Alaska pricing page.

Services

Active threat audit services in Alaska

• Threat reporting reviewChannels for reporting concerning behavior traced from employee to decision-maker, with gaps for contractors, night shifts and remote sites identified for leadership.Learn more
• Access control walk-throughEvery entrance, lock, badge reader and reception point documented, with notes on what staff can see and control from each position.Learn more
• Lockdown and egress mappingRooms that lock from inside, interior routes, accessible exits and assembly points mapped and photographed, including how they work in winter darkness.Learn more
• Protective order readinessConfidential processes for employees with domestic violence protective orders reviewed, including who acts on the information and how privacy is protected.Learn more
• Remote site response planningCommunications, accountability and first aid capability reviewed for camps, lodges and fly-in sites where outside help may take longer to arrive.Learn more
• Training and first aid reviewOnboarding and annual training, shift coverage and the placement of bleeding control kits compared against federal interagency guidance for active threats.Learn more
• Announced drill observationAn announced exercise observed by our investigators, with timing, alert reach and decision points recorded and reported back to leadership in writing.Learn more
• Pre-hire and contractor screeningLawful background research on new hires and contractors with site access, conducted within consumer protection and anti-discrimination limits counsel defines.Learn more
• Recovery plan reviewFamily reunification, support for affected staff, accurate public communications and business restoration steps checked for named owners and realistic timelines.Learn more

How it works

How an Alaska active threat audit runs

1. 01

   Confidential scoping

   Leadership or counsel shares site details, current plans, past incidents and any active concerns. We agree on scope and confidentiality and return a written schedule and price.

2. 02

   Plans and interviews

   We review written plans, training records and reporting channels, then interview managers, reception staff and employees on each shift about what they would actually do.

3. 03

   Site walk-through

   Investigators walk each site at the hours that matter, map entrances, locking rooms, exits and assembly areas, and photograph conditions, including winter darkness and snow.

4. 04

   Findings and briefing

   You receive a confidential written report with prioritized findings and practical options, followed by a briefing with leadership or counsel and, if requested, an observed drill.

Compare

Active threat preparedness phases and what the audit tests (based on the 2021 ISC guide)

Statewide coverage

Active threat audits across Alaska

Offices, clinics and campuses in Anchorage and the Mat-Su, including Wasilla, are reviewed by investigators assigned to Southcentral. Interior workplaces in Fairbanks and North Pole are audited with winter assembly in mind. Peninsula employers work with our Soldotna and Kenai coverage. Southeast sites in Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan depend on air and ferry travel. Remote camps and Western and Arctic sites, from Nome to Utqiagvik, are reached by air, with every trip checked against current schedules and quoted in writing before anyone travels.

• Anchorage
• Fairbanks
• Juneau
• Wasilla
• Soldotna
• Bethel
• All of Alaska

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Every service

Investigations available in Alaska

Every service below is available in Alaska and across Alaska, run by the same Delator Group leadership that manages our Tennessee casework. Choose a service to read how it works in Alaska.

Service areas

Private investigators across Alaska