Virginia Tech Shootings & Campus Security

Soon after I heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007, I switched to FoxNews. I watched and listened as each person talked to speculated on what happened. I watched as some they talked to professed righteous indignation at the "lack of security" at the college campus, and demanding to know why they didn't lock the whole campus down immediately following the first of today's incident, especially since they (VT) had a shooting incident at the beginning of the semester, and why it took them two hours to report it to the students. You ever notice how indignant many of the named individual show anchors get when they think they know it all? (And, remember... They DON'T... at least as the news is happening.)

Well, let's think about this. The first shooting occurred in a dormitory/residence hall, and apparently, a man and woman were arguing. An assistant at the hall began to intervene, and the man shot the woman and the RA, dead. He then, left the building, maybe (at least one report said) shooting his way out and wounding a number of other students in the process. While this was going on, 911 was called, the police showed up, shut down the hall, and began assessing the situation. I've heard reports that the dorm was closed, students ordered into their rooms, the injured removed, and the investigation begun, At this point, to me, and to them, it looked like a "domestic incident". (If this had happened in a regular apartment complex, I don't think anything different would have been done.) Logically, this makes sense. They had information it was an escalated argument, the victims were there, reports that the gunman had left the building, etc. The college gathered security forces, including local sheriff and police, and began a sweep of the campus when the second incident was reported.

In the second, an apparent student walked into a classroom and shot the professor dead. All of the students hit the floor. No command was given by the gunman, but they did it, anyway. He then began shooting students. When he left and heard screaming, moaning, and others trying to get 911, he re-entered and shot some more. (This reported by a student wounded in the arm, who apparently "played dead" after being shot.) After killing almost 30 there and wounding a couple of dozen, he killed himself. The shooter had chained the exit doors of the building from the inside, so no one could get in or out easily. Many students, apparently jumped from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floor windows, some breaking their ankles in landing. (A student they interviewed on the phone reported that they'd rather have their ankle broken than ...) As soon as it was reported, the campus sent out emails to all students, telling them to stay in the dorm rooms, and locked down the whole campus.

HOWEVER, think about THIS: About 9000 students live on campus, with 14000 commuting from OFF campus. These numbers do not include the 10,000 employees of the university, most of whom were "in transit" between the end of the first and second incident. Even in today's day and age, not everyone has cell phones. Not everyone listens to the radio. Even those who do could be taking a shower, listening to CDs with it turned up, etc. They reported that vehicles with loud speakers were driving around campus reporting the campus was closed and to stay in the rooms they were in, and many didn't hear it because of this. HOW are they to let EVERYONE involved know what's going on, stay in their rooms away from windows, and to stay away from campus?

While dorms are locked down to allow only students and employees entrance, one student reported all they had to do when they lost or forgot their key was to wait until someone left, and slip in behind them before the door closed. Besides the dorms, the main buildings cannot be locked down, easily, because there are people (grad students, TAs, maintenance people, etc.) who need full access to them. And even then, the same method could be used to get in and out.
So what are they to do? Almost any security measure can and probably WOULD be considered an invasion of privacy, especially something involving fingerprints and/or corneal scans (the databases could be sold to the government, after all...) It's hard enough to get students to use their student ids for discounts, let alone security. The "slip-in" method has to be addressed. What about older campuses with older buildings? They can't hire armed guards for every room or building. All of this is physical security. Add to that the computers, networks, cell phones, electric and water supplies, etc. You think the cost of secondary education is high now...

HOWEVER, a modicum of security could be handled by the student (and faculty/staff) ID cards. They should contain all the information on a driver's license (except the DL # replaced with an ID number specific to the school), and a unique mag-strip code replaced every time the ID is replaced and/or every year, required for each entry into each building, including parking structures, could be enforceable:

• Security logs any time the student's id is used to enter or leave a building. At class-change, a turnstile or something like it would have to be employed and EVERY student MUST run their card through... Going in AND going out.
• Any student allowing another person to enter a building UNESCORTED (only to the building security desk - They'd take over from there...) without their own access card would be reprimanded the first time, limited to class and their own dorms for a time the second time, and expelled the third time. Satellite security/police offices/kiosks around campus will allow students (after checking to be sure they are who they say they are) to get a temporary ID, used only for that day or a certain number of hours (times can be programmed). These MUST be turned in. This will also be the way for visitors to campus to gain access to certain buildings, especially on Parents' Day or others (temporary/visitor passes).
• All doors are locked unless the card is used, then only unlocked for a short time or until it closes again. No building doors or unsecured first-floor windows are to be left open under ANY circumstances.
• Security cameras should dot the campus (not pointed at ANY dorm windows - if anyone uses them for that, they should be fired and prosecuted).
• Each building should have a flashing light/loud-speaker system installed (think high-school). Each student should have a campus email account (if they don't already). They should have quick access to a page on the campus website that tells them 1) the weather, 2) Amber Alerts, 3) Campus Security Notifications (most of the page), and maybe a few other police, security and "comfort" bits of information. Some of them (except the security notifications) would/should be links. The alarm/loudspeaker should be triggered by campus security (a building, region of, or full campus alert at a time), with a message telling the students a summary of the security problem, and telling them to access the security page. (The flashing lights allow deaf students to see there's a problem, and a klaxon and the announcement allows the blind to hear.)
• Each student's cell phone/PDA # MUST be registered on campus, and be allowed to receive free text-messages from campus security. I'm sure the cell phone providers could be worked with for users' protection. (Especially after VT.) If not, this could be REQUIRED BY LAW.
• The local Emergency Management System could be employed on campus and the surrounding area. Many cable companies employ them, and, I'm sure, many campuses use their own cable system. This could break into radio/TV programming to inform anyone watching/listening of security situations on campus or the local area. (Cable companies need to be sure to sync analog and digital for this to work properly.)
• Maybe signs like they put along the highways now - the ones that flash Amber Alerts and warn of closures? - at each entrance to campus, used in much the same way, but also flashing security situations.
• All security alert systems should be checked at least once-a-month. (Heck... The tornado alarms in our town are tested once-a-week at a specific time.)
• Guess we can't forget about events on-campus for the public... Temp passes would work, but access to other areas of the campus would need to be restricted.

And, I'm sure there are other security measures that can be taken. Some are already in effect on many campuses, but maybe this can give them some ideas. Remember, though... Each and every idea costs money, which the college/university will pass on to students.

Did Virginia Tech make a mistake by not emailing the general campus population about the first incident - that there had been a shooting in a dorm - and the gunman was "on the loose"? Probably, but again, how would they let EVERYONE know? Even with all of the above suggestions, there will still be those who don't get the information until it's too late. And, what happens when it's a student (or two or...) with access to all buildings?

There's no way to make campuses as secure as many parents would like without virtually keeping all students sequestered on-campus and in their dorms throughout a complete semester... Think they'd allow the same type of frat or sorority parties in a prison like this? (Is that a BAD thing?)

Do you have any more security ideas or comments on the above?

Bill Sanders