In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, schools and institutions are taking a closer look at their emergency procedures. Southern has tasked Campus Safety with reviewing and updating its current policies to ensure maximum safety in an active shooter situation on Southern’s campus.
The first step taken, according to Campus Safety Manager Shawn Haas, is to go over Southern’s current emergency procedures. One example is the “Run, Deny, Defend” policy in an active shooter situation. Students’ and employees’ first priority should be to get as far away as possible from the situation. If that is not possible, individuals should barricade doorways and other entrances to prevent contact between students and a perpetrator. Finally, the last resort should be the use of force in self-defense against the assaulter.
One of the hardware changes Campus Security is looking at is the use of heavy-duty door stops. This would aid in the defense of students and faculty who would not be able to escape. New software is being looked at as well, such as programs that would push alerts to any device on Southern’s grounds through text messages and messages over the internet. These changes would be an improvement.
Haas thinks that real changes need to be made at the personal level.
“We want to approach some of these changes from a smaller and more hands on level,” Haas said. “Every door can be locked and unlocked differently, and we want all staff in every department to be familiar with their surroundings.”
Students also have opinions on emergency preparation and response. Junior social work major Angelica Acevedo says that educating people will have the greatest impact on crisis preparation.
“Arming the people on campus with knowledge alongside more equipment is going to be the real difference maker,” Acevedo said. “The more people know, the better they will handle situations.”
Institutions can never predict when something bad will happen, but they can organize in anticipation. Haas said, “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”
“No matter what we see as we walk around campus or what our opinions are on current policies,” Officer Stevenson Pangkey said, “it is our job to follow them to the best of our abilities as to best protect the people on this Campus.”