Public safety upgrades, training
help GCU keep students and
staff safe
PREPARED to
PROTECT
– by Michael Ferraresi
A
team of Phoenix Police officers glided
through the hallways of a vacant Sedona
Hall as
Kenny Laird
monitored their moves.
The officers angled their faux weapons toward a make-believe gunman as part of
an active-shooter training exercise at the Grand Canyon University residence hall.
In light of recent campus shootings and common public safety threats, GCU and
Phoenix Police partnered on a number of safety initiatives to ensure officers and
campus security are prepared in the event of an emergency.
That means addressing the grisly realities of a potential mass-casualty situation
on campus. It’s an issue every American university, high school – and even
elementary school, as the Newtown, Conn., tragedy proved – is forced to deal
with in an open and honest way within their campus communities.
“We’ve got to stop the loss of life before we can treat victims,” said Laird, a 22-year
Phoenix Police veteran, who joined GCU earlier this year as a full-time assistant
director of public safety.
“It’s important to neutralize and stop the threat,” he said, adding that GCU officers
have had a chance to participate in the police department training.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stresses a “whole community
approach” to active-shooter preparedness, because situations such as those at
Virginia Tech, Columbine and other campuses tend to be “unpredictable and
evolve quickly,” according to a DHS overview of active-shooting training.
Mitigating campus violence requires officers to have updated training on how
to clear facilities such as large residence halls, classroom buildings and similar
structures. Also, earlier this summer, GCU faculty and staff were introduced to
a Homeland-funded video titled “Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an Active Shooter
Event.” The five-minute video provides simple tips for people to follow in the
event of a workplace shooting.
Rich Oesterle
, assistant campus development director over public safety, said
steps to enhance public safety have included strengthening barriers around campus;
adding public safety officers at all entries to the campus or nearby GCU sites; and
encouraging everyone from students to staff to report suspicious behavior.
“Every incremental step puts a barrier in front of the criminal, the bad guy,”
Oesterle said. “Each of these steps improves the safety of students, staff and
faculty on campus.
GCU students and staff have the ability to contact public safety officers quickly
via 16 emergency blue-light call boxes around campus. More are being installed
this year. Photo by Darryl Webb
