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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/26/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
August 14, 2007 Police prepare for the worst at UW-Green Bay Departments train for situations like the Virginia Tech shootings By Kelly McBride
Scheduled to test the campus response in the event of a Virginia Tech-like tragedy, the drills involved scenarios ranging from hostage situations to those with an active shooter on campus.
UWGB public safety officials joined SWAT teams from the Green Bay Police and Brown County Sheriff's departments to carry out the exercises, which lasted several hours.
And while the tactics practiced Monday were some no one ever hopes to use, they could prove critical in the event of a real emergency, said Green Bay Police Chief Jim Arts.
"We're trying to make all of our departments in the area aware of the physical location of UWGB, in case we have an event like Virginia Tech," Arts said Monday. "That's part of the ongoing training — we have to prepare ourselves and our officers to more appropriately respond to threats or threat assessments. We want to make sure we're doing the right things."
About 60 to 70 people, mostly law enforcement officials, participated in Monday's drills. Goals included testing inter-department communication, as well as responding to the complex dynamics of a campus environment, said Randy Christopherson, director of public safety at UWGB.
"In environments such as ours — or Virginia Tech ... we're talking about a large proximity of buildings to clear, a lot of rooms to clear — and all these agencies need to work through (them)," Christopherson said. "And there's all kinds of planning and training, preparation that takes place in police departments."
College officials across the country have taken a renewed look at campus security since the April incident at Virginia Tech, in which a gunman killed 32 fellow students and himself. But that's not to suggest that emergency protocols didn't exist before then.
At UWGB, public address and electronic notification systems are in place to help quickly warn students of an emergency. One of the criticisms that arose from Virginia Tech was that students weren't informed quickly enough that there was a gunman on campus.
UWGB Chancellor Bruce Shepard has taken a leading role in statewide campus security initiatives, and is co-chairing a governor's campus safety task force. Officials don't yet know if any big changes will result from Monday's exercises, Shepard said — they can only hope to be prepared.
"We always are trying to figure out what our biggest threats are," he said.
"... My big worry is, it's not the threat you know that gets you — it's the threat you don't know."
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