Firm helps Fresno schools, churches prepare for emergencies

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The violent shooting at a South Carolina church has local churches and businesses thinking about their own security plans. A firm is helping people prepare for the worst. It's a group of current and former cops -- all of them armed with knowledge and hoping to thwart disaster by giving people a plan.

March 2013. It was just after Sandy Hook, and Fresno Adventist Academy wanted extra training about school shootings. So they asked the Multi-Joint Action Advisory group for help. Enter Gregg Sanders and his firm, which brings more than 100 years of law enforcement to the table. He said, "We go around the country and we advise people."

Lately, those people include churches -- like Celebration Church, which worked with Sanders on a security plan. Sanders says before nine people were killed at a Bible study in Charleston, S.C., his firm was already reaching out to places of worship. He said, "No one would have thought this would have happened, yet it didn't surprise me for one moment."

He says police can't be everywhere, so people need to be prepared for workplace, school and church shootings. You might not be able to stop it, but you've got to have a plan. Sanders said, "There's too many people out there that have mental issues, and you have to be prepared for that."

Sanders will often stage an active shooter demonstration at his seminars to gauge people's reaction times and responses. And he says, unfortunately, Sandy Hook changed his business and changed the way people think. He said, "People actually should be knocking down our doors now, not just my business, but all the businesses that deal with this."

Sanders says while he's worked with schools and churches, recently, medical offices have started to contact him about creating a plan, just in case.