Safety is not something that can easily be measured, and in today’s climate, it is a concern for almost everybody. The Lake Front decided to take a look at the issue of safety and break it down for you, the readers, by the numbers. Here we go:

4: the number of emergency call boxes on campus.

According to OLLU Campus Police Chief A.J. Sandoval, the call boxes available are rarely used.
However, a majority of emergency or assistance calls are dialed on both campus police phone lines.

“I think at least four more (call boxes) are needed,” Sandoval said. Three of the existing four boxes are located in well-lit areas, with one located in the west parking lot near the fairly lit track.

A recent collaboration with the San Antonio Police Department resulted in Campus Police gaining new equipment, which has bettered their response time, Sandoval said. The mobile transmitting devices (MDTs) work by allowing police to run background checks on vehicles and a frequently used device is the direct line, which transfers all emergency calls straight to an officer on duty.

Aside from the daily patrol, there are also special action plans set in place for emergencies. “We have the same training and emergency plans the SAPD goes through if something suspicious, out of the ordinary, or dangerous is happening,” Sandoval said.

Even before the recent shooting at Virginia Tech, officers went through Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) which helped them execute a plan of action for an active shooter scenario, he said. This training took place during Spring Break, and was the first time officers completed the new drill.

According to Sandoval, the new plan actually lets the officers go into the situation instead of letting them sit back and negotiate. Officers have also had training in hostage situations with barricaded suspects and even bomb threats.

In addition to the training and updates made to Campus Police, administrative offices in Student Life have been changing and re-evaluating their crisis plans.

2: the number of updates being made to the university crisis plan.

According to Jack Hank, vice president of Student Life, “There is a university policy and procedure manual that is being rewritten right now, which was being rewritten before the Virginia Tech scenario happened. Last spring we came together as student life, we have a student crisis response plan that was in effect and as a group…that was redone in May, and is revisited annually or after any student crisis.”

The new communication plan has been the latest addition to campus safety. A new committee for faculty and administrators called Activate Campus Communication Effective System Sources (ACCESS) has undertaken the task of figuring out effective methods of communicating emergency information to students.

Some ideas under consideration have been mass e-mail lists, alerts on the main Web page for the university, switchboard warning system, text messaging, and an emergency hotline. Another solution is an emergency phone system.

“From our office we can press a button which would then send out a warning to every line,” Sandoval said.

This solution, along with the text-messaging system, would be the most expensive but perhaps the most effective. Students would voluntarily give their phone numbers, so that text messaging or phone calls can occur. However, some students may feel that this cuts into their privacy.

“It has to be a trust issue, that this (text messaging) would be utilized and be protected just as grades or other things that are private as far a record keeping goes,” Hank said.

Smaller scale emergencies or dangerous situations have also been examined, and Sandoval and the police department have responded by offering self-defense classes for students to better prepare them for any situation. However, in the past, these classes have been met with little support.

“By the request of students, faculty, and staff we have offered self-defense classes but because of a lack of attendance we had to get rid of it,” Sandoval said. “Only 26 students showed up to the class, but I made sure that when the students left they felt more secure of themselves and how to act in an emergency.” The students who did attend walked away knowing three points of self-defense anyone can use. Sandoval explained that for self-defense to happen people must recognize their own personal safety, have a plan of action, and act on that plan.

Thoughts about how to inform the student body on how to react in a crisis have also led Student Life to consider adding a program during the new student orientation. “Especially as we bring new students in, you can have policies written that can sit on the Internet or in files, but in a situation you don’t have time to read, you need to react and have that basic understanding,” Hank said.

374: the number of students who took a recent Residence Life survey.

Among other concerns, the survey included questions on the issue of safety on campus. For example, in response to the statement, “OLLU is a safe place to live,” more than 92 percent of respondents agreed.
Though the numbers were overall positive, the issue of safety raised a concern for Mark Center, director of Residence Life. “I think we live in a tight-knit community, (and) because this campus is safe, students let their guard down, and I don’t want that to happen.”

Living in a small community does not mean bad things will not occur, and that is why “students should always stay aware, not just for themselves but for the safety of everyone else around them,” urges Center.

In the event of a situation occurring, the current procedure for resident assistants mandates that they first contact Campus Police. The agreement with SAPD guarantees that reinforcements can arrive if needed which is why Campus Police are “the first to be contacted,” states Center.

After Campus Police has taken action, the resident assistants are informed in “case the students need to be evacuated or in case of a tornado the students need to be escorted into the hallways,” explains Center.

Residence assistants are chosen after an evaluation period, which consists of observation, a one-on-one interview, and meeting a certain GPA. They are trained to react efficiently in case of an emergency and at the beginning of each semester a fire drill evacuation test is conducted. However, the fire drill is the only drill the RA’s practice. They are instructed to contact Campus Police for all other emergencies.

If there is an emergency similar to the one occurring at Virginia Tech, “we would strictly contact and take directions from Campus Police, because they have a better overall picture,” Center said. “We may know one little thing going on in Providence , but the police might know that not only is there something happening in Providence, but there is something happening down the street, in St. Martin’s Hall. I don’t want to be in a situation telling students to leave and then put them in another danger,” Center said.

Asked about some of the new ways of communicating that the school is looking into, Center said that they “look very promising and I think it is a great idea.” Overall, Campus Police has more police officers per student when compared to Virginia Tech. “We do have roughly 14 officers on the police force, as I understand Virginia Tech had about 34. When you think about that we have almost half of that for a campus our size,” Hank said

When asked if OLLU could handle an event similar to Virginia Tech, Hank explained that if something happened the university has the resources, and the response. “Can we prevent something like this from happening? I don’t know if we can. But to have that active response is very important.”