N.C. campuses retool safety

Emergency notification

Alert Carolina, UNC-CH's emergency notification program, utilized its emergency text messaging for the first time March 5, when students were alerted of an off-campus shooting victim later determined to be former Student Body President Eve Carson.

Four emergency alert sirens - intended for activation in the event of an armed and dangerous person on or near campus, a major chemical spill or hazard or a tornado sighting - were tested March 26. The test revealed some technical issues, including a limited range.

Appalachian State University used its emergency text message notification March 3, when a student falsely reported sighting a gunman off campus.

Personnel needs

The UNC Campus Safety Task Force recommended that a new associate vice president for safety and emergency operations for the UNC General Administration be installed by August 2008.

Both task forces stressed the creation of on-campus threat assessment teams and the retraining of faculty and students on how to recognize and report threats.

Both task forces found it important that campus police be adequately trained - only 53 percent of sworn officers on UNC campuses were trained in crisis intervention as of January. UNC-CH's Department of Public Safety has been nationally accredited since 1995.

Both task forces also suggested that campus police forces engage in a Memorandum of Agreement/Memorandum of Understanding with each local emergency agency to coordinate emergency responses.

Surveillance

In its August report on the Virginia Tech shootings, the Virginia governor's commission noted that security cameras could have helped prevent the massacre.

Creating a surveillance camera network that would include every main entrance and access door on UNC-system campuses would cost more than $1.6 million, according to the UNC task force.

Mental health as a priority

Campuses were urged to develop a policy of involuntary withdrawal of students who pose such a threat, meaning students who haven't actually broken rules can be expelled from school for demonstrating threatening behavior.

Both task forces focused on the need to retrain faculty on mental health privacy laws to better enable faculty and administrators to report students who might be harmful to themselves or others.

The system budget includes $1.9 million in annual funding for case managers for students who could pose a threat to themselves or others and $1.7 million annually for increased counseling services.

Building toward safety

By August 2011 the system aims to implement Crime Prevention through Environmental Design techniques for new buildings.

The state hopes to establish a Center for Campus Safety, which would serve as a hub in coordinating training and sharing information.