The Virginia Tech Incident – UWPDs Response
Since April 16, nearly all campus departments including the Police Department have been engaged in what can only be described as crisis management minus the actual crisis. Chief Sue Riseling fielded nationwide media requests and the Patrol section did refresher training on “Response to an Active Shooter”, a specialized rapid response training each officer receives at least twice a year. Our Detectives reviewed their suspicious activity/persons lists and worked cooperatively with the Dean of Students office to identify individuals who might be in need of intervention based on a wide variety of potentially problematic behaviors. The Emergency Management section reviewed the current university emergency response plans used to address any campus crisis.
We held meetings with the Dean of Students, Health and Counseling Services, Housing, the Chancellor’s office, DoIT, and UW Communications so that a thorough review was done on how our campus would respond in a similar situation. While we found that our current plans, which are tested and exercised at least twice a year, were very up to date and well-tuned, the team still wanted to be sure that all of our collective preparedness plans were reviewed again and compared with a whole new set of risk factors not previously seen.
UW System President Kevin Reilly has formed a Commission on Campus Safety, chaired by Chief Riseling, to address the safety and security needs of all 26 UW campuses.
While no campus, city, or other entity can ever be totally prepared for every eventuality that might befall its residents, the police department and its campus partners feel that a continued review of these dynamic response plans will serve us well. We will continue as we always have to exercise and hone these plans. We will continue to examine the current methods of notification as well as explore newer technologies that might enhance our abilities to get emergency messages out to more people quickly, whether for a tornado warning, storm alert, terrorist threat, or to warn of any person threatening our campus environs.
The UW Police Department hopes you will be a partner with us in enhancing campus safety. To report any emergency or suspicious activity on campus, please call 9-1-1, or for non-emergency calls, 608.264-COPS (2677).
