S5|E1 SANDY HOOK TO BONDI: HOW MASS-SHOOTING TRAINING CHANGED POLICING — PART ONE

What happens when three experienced investigators from opposite sides of the world sit down to examine how police respond to an active shooter?

In this special crossover between Stop the Killing and Watching Two Detectives, former FBI Special Agent Katherine Schweit joins retired New South Wales detectives Peter Hogan and Scott Rogan for an expert examination of the lessons that have reshaped mass-shooting prevention, preparation and police response.

Katherine was working on national security and counterterrorism cases when the murder of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School changed the direction of her career. Following the shooting, she was appointed to the White House team tasked with developing a coordinated national response to mass shootings and became the architect of the FBI’s Active Shooter Program.

In Part One, Katherine explains how the devastating events at Sandy Hook helped accelerate a fundamental change in policing: moving away from the traditional strategy of “contain, negotiate and wait” towards the immediate deployment of officers to confront and stop an active threat.

Peter and Scott reveal how those lessons travelled across the world and influenced Australian policing. They discuss the introduction of New South Wales Police’s Active Armed Offender training, the impact of the 2014 Lindt Café siege and the confronting reality of preparing ordinary frontline officers to run towards attackers armed with military-style weapons.

Together, they explore:

• Why active-shooter incidents can be over within minutes

• The extraordinary risks faced by the first officers entering the scene

• Why an active shooter and a mass shooting are not always the same thing

• Why workplaces—not schools—account for many active-shooter attacks in the United States

• The challenges of negotiating with attackers driven by extremist or ideological motives

• Why warning signs must be recognised and reported before violence begins

• How information shared by one student helped prevent a planned school shooting

• Why measuring the attacks that never happened is so important

Katherine also shares the remarkable story of the message that reminded her why Stop the Killing must continue: a school vice principal who credited the podcast with helping her team recognise the warning signs and prevent a planned attack.

This conversation lays the groundwork for the next part of the series, when Katherine, Peter and Scott turn their attention to the December 14, 2025 Bondi Beach terrorist attack, examining the actions of the attackers, civilians and responding officers through their combined FBI and Australian policing experience. The attack targeted a Hanukkah celebration and killed 15 people.

This is not simply a conversation about what happened. It is a conversation about what has been learned, what has changed—and what still needs to change to stop the next attack.

Listen now to Part One of this special multi-part crossover.

Stop the Killing on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/stop-the-killing/id1585146489

Watching Two Detectives on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/watching-two-detectives/id1740792484

Watching Two Detectives Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/wtd

Stop the Killing Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/stopthekilling

Please follow both podcasts and leave a five-star review wherever you listen. Your support helps us continue producing independent investigations, sharing the experiences of survivors and law-enforcement professionals, and creating conversations that may genuinely help save lives.

Join us for Part Two, when the experts begin their examination of the Bondi Beach attack.

This episode contains discussions of mass shootings, terrorism, child victims and traumatic events. Listener discretion is advised.

This is a Sarah Ferris Media on the Killer Podcasts Network

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