Which way to safety?
Revamped emergency plan speeds response
Aaron Hummel
Issue date: 9/6/07 Section: News
• A mass e-mail will be sent to students, faculty and staff and a phone tree activated. Wertz could not estimated the speed of the phone tree.
• The public address system in Central Hall, the Dow Leadership Center and the Roche Sports Complex will disseminate information and instructions.
An emergency response group of college personnel will respond for crowd control, cordons and face to face communication with important leaders, Wertz said.
This response also calls for a command center in the Fowler Maintenance Building and a triage site on campus.
In the past, campus security communication with students and staff has gone well, senior Josh Klooz said. For two years, Klooz supervised student campus security employees.
"Everything worked very smoothly," he said in reference to the tornado warning last April. "Roughly in a matter of five minutes, everyone who needed to know about it knew about it."
Klooz believes the college is safe because it is small.
"God forbid that anything like [a shooting attack] would happen, but I think we're very prepared," he said. "The beauty of [the college] is that the police force is so close. We could have the situation isolated in five minutes, and based on what I've seen of our communication, it went very smoothly."
"Do we have a safe campus? Absolutely," Wertz said.
Senior Pete Smith said he is confident campus security is capable of protecting students.
"I see that they have a small role to play because they're here to break up fights and give people rides, and I think they do their job well," he said.
The updated response system comes after improvements last year to phone lines which had delayed emergency responders. Future developments could include a campuswide intercom system with speakers inside and outside buildings.
"We're safer," Ryan said. "Mike Wertz knows what he's doing. The idea is everyone will know what he's doing."
Security chose Ryan in part because of his experience at Hebrew University in Israel, an
institution known for tight security and a double suicide bombing on campus grounds.
"Going to school is like entering Fort Knox," Ryan said of the university. "You go through security twice."
Ryan also performed security duties in Israel and attended Marine Corps officer training in Quantico, Va.
• The public address system in Central Hall, the Dow Leadership Center and the Roche Sports Complex will disseminate information and instructions.
An emergency response group of college personnel will respond for crowd control, cordons and face to face communication with important leaders, Wertz said.
This response also calls for a command center in the Fowler Maintenance Building and a triage site on campus.
In the past, campus security communication with students and staff has gone well, senior Josh Klooz said. For two years, Klooz supervised student campus security employees.
"Everything worked very smoothly," he said in reference to the tornado warning last April. "Roughly in a matter of five minutes, everyone who needed to know about it knew about it."
Klooz believes the college is safe because it is small.
"God forbid that anything like [a shooting attack] would happen, but I think we're very prepared," he said. "The beauty of [the college] is that the police force is so close. We could have the situation isolated in five minutes, and based on what I've seen of our communication, it went very smoothly."
"Do we have a safe campus? Absolutely," Wertz said.
Senior Pete Smith said he is confident campus security is capable of protecting students.
"I see that they have a small role to play because they're here to break up fights and give people rides, and I think they do their job well," he said.
The updated response system comes after improvements last year to phone lines which had delayed emergency responders. Future developments could include a campuswide intercom system with speakers inside and outside buildings.
"We're safer," Ryan said. "Mike Wertz knows what he's doing. The idea is everyone will know what he's doing."
Security chose Ryan in part because of his experience at Hebrew University in Israel, an
institution known for tight security and a double suicide bombing on campus grounds.
"Going to school is like entering Fort Knox," Ryan said of the university. "You go through security twice."
Ryan also performed security duties in Israel and attended Marine Corps officer training in Quantico, Va.
Be the first to comment on this story