Spring Break
CSUPD wary of campus crisis
J. David McSwane
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: News
Thursday's shootings at Northern Illinois University that claimed the lives of six students and left 16 injured serve as a grim reminder to campus police to train for similar violence here.
"It seems as though that's a predominant theme among college campuses," said Dexter Yarbrough, CSU's associate vice president of public safety and chief of police.
In a "brief, rapid-fire assault," a lone gunman dressed in black fatally shot four women and a man in an NIU lecture hall before taking his own life, according to the Associated Press.
The NIU shootings brought about the same fears and sadness felt just 10 months ago after a lone gunman took the lives of 32 before taking his own life on the Virginia Tech campus -- the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
The day of the Virginia Tech Massacre, April 17, the CSU campus was placed on "heightened alert," a status the campus did not reach Thursday.
But the possibly of a gunman coming onto the CSU campus remains a real concern for the CSU Police Department and the university's emergency management team, Yarbrough said.
"When things like that happen, (CSUPD) certainly takes note of it," Yarbrough said. "That's one of my biggest fears, something I worry about constantly -- a shooting on campus.
"How do you prepare for something like that?"
CSUPD and the university Emergency Management Team, the group charged with responding to violent attacks and other disasters, had a test of the university emergency response system -- text messages alerts, e-mail alerts and reverse 911 calls -- planned for next week. The test was planned before the NIU shootings, Yarbrough said, as part of the university's on-going training.
"We've put in to plan a number of mechanisms to make sure we get the alerts out to campus as soon as possible," Yarbrough said. "Our officers are constantly being trained with active shooter scenarios."
In the event of a gunman on campus, CSUPD plans to alert building proctors to evacuate buildings, send out electronic alerts and, if necessary, interrupt cable or satellite broadcasts.
"It seems as though that's a predominant theme among college campuses," said Dexter Yarbrough, CSU's associate vice president of public safety and chief of police.
In a "brief, rapid-fire assault," a lone gunman dressed in black fatally shot four women and a man in an NIU lecture hall before taking his own life, according to the Associated Press.
The NIU shootings brought about the same fears and sadness felt just 10 months ago after a lone gunman took the lives of 32 before taking his own life on the Virginia Tech campus -- the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
The day of the Virginia Tech Massacre, April 17, the CSU campus was placed on "heightened alert," a status the campus did not reach Thursday.
But the possibly of a gunman coming onto the CSU campus remains a real concern for the CSU Police Department and the university's emergency management team, Yarbrough said.
"When things like that happen, (CSUPD) certainly takes note of it," Yarbrough said. "That's one of my biggest fears, something I worry about constantly -- a shooting on campus.
"How do you prepare for something like that?"
CSUPD and the university Emergency Management Team, the group charged with responding to violent attacks and other disasters, had a test of the university emergency response system -- text messages alerts, e-mail alerts and reverse 911 calls -- planned for next week. The test was planned before the NIU shootings, Yarbrough said, as part of the university's on-going training.
"We've put in to plan a number of mechanisms to make sure we get the alerts out to campus as soon as possible," Yarbrough said. "Our officers are constantly being trained with active shooter scenarios."
In the event of a gunman on campus, CSUPD plans to alert building proctors to evacuate buildings, send out electronic alerts and, if necessary, interrupt cable or satellite broadcasts.
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