In Case of an Active Shooter—Call 911

An active shooter is defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as "an individual actively engaged in shooting or attempting to shoot people in a confined and populated area.”

If you find yourself in an area with an active shooter you have three (3) basic options:

Run - If you see a safe way out.

• If you are in the building where the active shooter is present, evacuate the building or move to a room that can be locked.
• While evacuating, notify anyone you may encounter to exit the building immediately.
• Look and listen to where the threat is. If you see members of the campus community fleeing from a particular area, this is a clear indication that the threat is in that area and may be coming toward you.
• Evacuate to a safe area away from danger and take protective cover.
• Stay there until assistance arrives.
• Call 9-1-1

Hide - If there is no clear way out.

• Go to the nearest room or office.
• Close and lock the door.
• If the door does not lock, barricade the door with large heavy objects to make entry as difficult as possible (desks, tables, file cabinets, furniture, books, etc.)
• Turn off the lights.
• Cover windows and draw blinds.
• Turn off radios and computer monitors.
• Seek protective cover.
• Silence cell phones and remain as quiet as possible.
• Don't answer door. 
• If possible, call 9-1-1 from your location.

Fight - As a last resort.

• If confronted, respond with full force using whatever is available (objects as improvised weapons, etc.) 
• If you are with other people you should work as a collective group to overcome the shooter. (Yell gun, throw items at the shooter's head to distract, grab weapon, hold shooter for police.)
• Remember, the attacker will continue to shoot victims unless he is stopped.

If an emergency situation arises on a Yeshiva University campus, community members will be notified and updated on the University's response through use of all or many of the following: 

YU Alert Emergency Notifications(s)  

These notifications will arrive to community members via text message, email, phone, fax, etc. Remember to register or update your contact information at yu.edu/safety-security/yu-alerts.

Web 

• YU Home page
• YU Emergency page
• YU Alert page
• YU News page

Social Media

• YU on Facebook
• YU on Twitter
• YU on Youtube

Email

• YU Security Department: security@yu.edu  

• If you are outside a building when an Active Shooter event occurs, you should take immediate cover, preferably inside another building or evacuate off campus.
• If you are inside a building where an Active Shooter is present, you should evacuate the building immediately only if you can safely do so.
• If you are unsure if you can evacuate safely or if you are in another building on campus and the shooter is not in your building, your best option will be to lockdown and shelter-in place.

Unsecuring an Area

• Consider risks before un-locking rooms
• Typically the police will go from room to room to ensure that there are no other shooters present. 
• Wait until trusted emergency personnel give you an "all clear!"

Emergency Phone Numbers

• Dial 911
• Yeshiva University Campus Security
  • Wilf Campus - 212.960.5200
  • Beren Campus - 212.340.7460
  • Cardozo Law School - 212.790.0303

Program the Security Department telephone numbers into your cell phone.

What to Report

• Your specific location-building name and office/room number
• Number of people at your specific location
• Injuries-number injured, types of injuries
• Assailant(s)-location, number of suspects, race/gender, clothing description, physical features, type of weapons (long gun or hand gun), backpack, shooters identity if known, separate explosions from gunfire, etc

Police Response

• Objective is to engage assailant(s) immediately
• If evacuating, keep your hands out, open, above your head, and most importantly, keep your hands EMPTY
• Do not attempt to run towards or grab onto officers

Re-Assembly Location

• Follow the instructions from emergency personnel when evacuating.
• You will be directed to a re-assembly location on your campus
• Police officers will secure all witnesses until identified and questioned.

Remember to register and update your YU Alert account. Add your cell phone to your contact information at yu.edu/safety-security/yu-alerts.

The campuses of Yeshiva University consist of numerous buildings spread throughout the city. If a major criminal incident is occurring on or in the immediate vicinity of the university, a campus-wide Lockdown or Lockout might be implemented. 

Lockdown & Lockout procedures are designed to protect our students, staff and faculty from the impact a criminal incident or other dangerous condition until law enforcement can respond to the scene and contain the situation.

If you observe a major criminal incident which is occurring in the vicinity of one of our buildings, notify Security, and provide us with the following information:

• Location of incident 
• Description and number of persons involved (clothing and physical features)
• Injuries that have occurred
• Description of any weapons involved
• The suspect's direction of travel and vehicle description(if applicable)

Make sure that the officer understands that the incident is in progress and in the vicinity of the campus.

Emergency Communication

Depending upon the severity of the incident, Security will advise you of specific instructions in one of the following ways:

• Text message on the YU Alert system 
• Email via YU Announce 
• Intercom announcements or 
• Portable loudspeaker announcements.

When an announcement is made to initiate a full lockdown, the Yeshiva University campus community will advise you in the following manner: 

• Proceed to an area that can be secured or locked.
• All doors into the area should be locked. 
• If it is not possible to lock the doors, place furniture and equipment in front of the doors in order to barricade them. Some doors open out into the corridor. In this situation, use whatever means possible to try to restrict entry to the room, including placing furniture and equipment in front of the door, or using a belt or other item to tie the door handle to something stable. 
• Move to the point in the room that is most distant from a door entering the room from the outside or from a corridor/hallway. Do not huddle, but spread out. 
• Close blinds and drapes for concealment. 
• Turn off lights. Put cell phones on vibrate, and silence other devices.
• If communication is needed, use text messaging only. 
• Remain quiet and secure until the ALL CLEAR is given by Security or the Police.

If a criminal incident or other condition does not pose a direct threat to our campus a lockout may be implemented. A lockout means that entrance doors are locked and people will not exit or enter the building, if doing so exposes them to danger.

Yeshiva University Security Officers will begin to secure the perimeter of the campus including locking exterior doors of our buildings and restricting access to our buildings and parking facilities.

Generally, academic instruction and campus business will continue indoors during a lockout but extra caution should be used until conditions return to normal.