You’re On Your Own - Pollstar News

When violence breaks out at an event, it’s YOYO time. That’s the acronym former Seattle SWAT officer Jeff Geoghagan uses to describe the mindset of venue employees under attack by an active shooter.

“YOYO time means ‘You’re On Your Own,’” Geoghagan told The Real. “I’m trying to get across to people that they need to make decisions for themselves with their own best interests in mind.”

It’s a security paradigm shift for the concert community, which has generally placed an onus on event staff to put patron safety ahead of its own. The June 12 attack in Orlando, Fla.’s Pulse nightclub has changed that, he explained.

Geoghagan, who now works as a security consultant, said organizations should communicate realistic expectations to their staffs about how to respond to an active shooter.

“You can’t tell someone they have to place themselves in mortal danger,” he said. “If they decide to try and save someone, that is very heroic but they need to recognize that doing so puts themselves at significant personal risk.”

The most common scenario is whether one choses to go back into a hostile area to save lives, Geoghagan said. Is a venue staffer obligated to try and save a child’s life if doing so puts him or her at a high risk of getting shot? Are they bound to use their own bodies to try and shield others?

“You can’t tell your unarmed security staff that they have to stand in the way and be a bullet stopper. It’s not legal nor reasonable,” he said.

Even in law enforcement, most police recognize that they don’t have an obligation to save a specific individual if it means putting their own lives in significant danger. It’s important for organizations to prepare and train their event staff to deal with an emergency, he said, but it’s also important that individuals understand the importance of protecting their own lives. T

hat’s the main premise of YOYO time – that during the throes of an emergency, you will have to make life and death decisions without protection from law enforcement. How you make those decisions will come largely from your own values, and more importantly, your own life circumstances.

“I tell people to go home and ask their family what they expect them to do if they find themselves in these circumstances,” Geoghagan said. “That’s the motivation you have to carry to when making very difficult decisions.”