AGAWAM – With the proliferation of mass shootings in the United States, an industry has sprouted up that specializes in training people what to do in an active shooter situation. In Agawam, Protective Advanced Safety Services (PASS) provides businesses, medical facilities, and houses of worship with information and training on what to do if the unthinkable happens.

The owners/instructors of PASS John Nettis, Steven Grasso and Mark Poggi, are current and former law enforcement personnel. Grasso is a Sergeant in the Agawam Police Department, Poggi is a retired officer from Agawam.

When Nettis joined the school department as safety director after retiring from the Hampden County Sheriff's Department, he said that he had to train 900 staff and 4,000 students what to do an emergency.

Nettis said that his experience training the school department combined with the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland in 2018 convinced Grasso, Poggi, and he that there was a need for civilian training. In 2017, there were 18,400 workplace assaults according to the National Safety Council. The website ready.gov provides advice to “run and escape, if possible,” to “hide, if escape is not possible,” and to “fight as an absolute last resort.” Many companies also provide this advice to their employees through lecturers or computer simulation training. Nettis said PASS teaches more than that.

"We make it a point to visit the workplace to identify vulnerabilities unique to the property so that when we do provide training, it’s customized, relevant and actionable should an emergency occur,” the PASS website states.

One of the major tools PASS teaches is learning to “manage your own anxiety,” Nettis said. To do that, he said, the instructors teach breathing skills and how to get past trauma-induced challenges, such as auditory exclusion (temporary hearing loss) and tunnel vision (temporary loss of peripheral vision).

“That doesn’t happen through a lecture or through the computer. That’s why we bring firearms and shoot blanks,” Nettis told Reminder Publishing.

“The belief is that if you go through that, then if it happens again your memory will kick in,” said Michelle Abdow, president of Market Mentors, a marketing and public relations firm in Springfield that underwent training from PASS in mid-July.

“John, Steve, and Mark did an amazing job,” Abdow said. “I think that a lot of our staff was uneasy, but they set our minds at ease.” She said the most valuable thing they were taught is how to navigate a situation. “I’m grateful that I was able to afford [my employees] an opportunity to learn what to do.” Abdow added, “Unfortunately this is the world we live in.”

Active shooter situations can have a financial cost in addition to the potential loss of life. Most active shooter incidents are enough to close most businesses’ doors, Nettis said, arguing that it makes business sense to invest in the training. PASS offers assessments before and after the training to see the difference the course made.

PASS doesn’t work exclusively with businesses, though. They also conduct trainings for hospitals and organizations. The company’s next training is scheduled for St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield.

In the wake of high profile mass shootings, PASS experiences a large uptick in interest.

“In the past two days, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” Nettis told Reminder Publishing days after the back-to-back shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

Everyone hopes an active shooter or a workplace violence situation doesn't happen to them, but Nettis said, “hope doesn’t keep people safe. Hope is a bad strategy, you need a plan.”

More information about PASS can be found at trainwithpass.com.