Tragedy at Virginia Tech Highlights the issue of College Campus Security and Gun Control
Sending your kid off to college / What to consider!
In memory of the victims of the
Virginia tech April 16, 2007 shootings
The tragedy at Virginia tech highlights the issue of college campus security & safety. It takes a disaster like this to raise questions of security and guns.
today I’ve listened to many talking heads on news shows; security experts, hand gun advocates, former law enforcers, police chiefs and college administrators, they are all reaching for an answer to explain the circumstances that led to the massacre on this vast sprawling campus. With more than 26 buildings spread over miles and more than 20,000 students, securing the campus takes more than policing and electronics
planning security programs for college campuses, high rise office complexes and government facilities requires a concentrated effort of multiple disciplines; defensive space planning, security technology, policing, policies and administration, just to name a few. Protecting a large environment like Virginia tech is not an impossible task. It requires more than police. It takes planning, coordination and a management team from various disciplines meeting monthly and discussing issues, including suggestions to correct conditions of concern.
The questions that I propose to any college administration are;
*do we have priority planning for our
Security program?
*which departments are part of the
planning?
*what topics, other than cameras, bells
and whistles are reviewed?
Security is most often considered a step-child to a college institution or business. Security budgets are often shortchanged and lack the substance to deliver an effective level of security. Not to say that this is the case at Virginia tech, however on the surface it’s been highlighted that there were no security cameras recording the events of the incident, no access controls during daylight hours, and a confusing hit/miss method or procedure for notification to the students.
A 26,000 student population brings crime and security issues. This is a small city, with multiple cultures inter-acting, likes and dislikes good and evil.
The massacred multiple homicides, the largest murder scene in the history of American college institutions, require an audit examination of all college campus security plans. I’m sure that college campuses across America are evaluating their security programs.
Does this mean that the “good ol’ boy” networks of former police officers or FBI agents with little or no college campus security planning experience will be knocking on every college campus president’s door? Probably!
There is a naive expectation that because someone who was an FBI agent or police officer, he/she is experienced in security planning. Often this may not be the case. their professional experience in fighting crime, handling family disputes, responding to after the fact crime scenes does not necessarily transform into qualified security planners. Education & experience in security planning, defensive space planning human inter-action and even emergency response to such incidents requires repetitive review and continuous evaluation. An independent audit by security planners may offer suggestions not seen by the campus security officer or administrator.
Often the freedom of student life, the demands from student unions, faculty, administration and even the ACLU prevents “big brother” from watching over the student body. This often results in limiting acceptable security standards. Often community standards dictate the security plan, until a tragic incident occurs.
What do parents do now?
Sending your kids off to college this summer, one has to consider the elements of security on the campus.
· What’s the level of crime, violence, security policy and procedures, training of Ra’s and campus police as well as every college professor, faculty members and even the cleaning staff? Find this info at www. department of education/ post secondary education.gov
· How “up to date” is the security plan?
· What security electronics are in place?
· How will the planners assist the administration to meet a standard of security?
· What about the notification process?
· What is the lock-down procedure for the campus?
As the memorial services honor the 32 lives lost from this tragic event, the lack of feeling safe vs. being safe is on the minds of all those students and faculty coping with the trauma.
Guns and mental health
The ’32 clearance’ report
Now the questions of guns and mental health issues arise. It takes an incident like this for the politicians to question accessibility of guns against the right to bear arms, a constitutional guarantee.
Everyday in America the innocent are shot, murdered by gun violence. It’s not the gun that kills but rather the human who pulls the trigger. It takes evil on a safe college campus to get the discussion going about gun control. It’s not gun control but rather the policy and procedures as to the mental health of gun owners. This was not a gun bought on the streets or in a back alley. It was bought at a licensed gun dealer, ammunition bought over the internet and a lack of verification of the mental health of the purchaser.
Politicians have jumped on the bandwagon to protect us by limiting gun purchases by the mentally ill. How do we define the mentally ill? Is it an actor who screams profanity at his child? Who is to decide who gets a gun and who doesn’t? Should all gun purchasers be forced to wait a full thirty days, before they are issued a gun or gun permit? Just a criminal background check has proven that this information is not adequate to protect the community from such evil. A 30 day waiting period allows for an adequate background evaluation. This would include court records on pending litigation or other action. It should confirm the mental health status of the applicant.
Don’t blame the gun, blame the lack of effective background profiling of purchasers before the gun is issued.
for the students and faculty who lost their lives at Virginia tech, it’s too late, but maybe in the honor and memory of the 32 who fell victim to the anger and rage from this mentally unstable student, a passage of a 30 day waiting period, “32 clearance”, requiring the purchaser to provide a detailed affidavit as to personal mental health should be part of the application. The purchaser pays for the background confirmation, offers the community a level of protection from another violent action by an unstable mentally deranged individual.
The “32 clearance” report will protect communities from the unstable amongst us. This would be a true honor to those who lost their lives at Virginia tech.
Currently it’s reported by media reports that more than 83% of Americans believe that the mentally ill should not have access to purchase guns. Let’s take that % and turn it into a positive step to protect the community.
Tell us what you think!
Parents can check out the security program at the university or college that their children will attend. You are entitled to view the crime reports; the u.s justice department collects data on campus crimes. Security organizations, like the American society of industrial security can offer parents a security profile of college campuses.
This is about policy and procedures to evaluate student’s safety and stability, review of reported domestic incidents on/off campus by students should be considered.
· What does the high school record suggest? Family related problems etc.
· Should college campuses conduct student profiles, to insure that they have not offered a student that’s a stalker, criminal or even a sympathizer of terroristic behavior, a seat on the campus?
Will this be the wake-up call to the ivy tower set?
· Will college life and the professor’s who seek open academic freedom change to address reality?
· What about academic freedom? How will Virginia tech’s massacre affect scholastic freedom?
Along came 9/11 and the concept of security planning changed from corporate to governmental objectives. Many programs today are planned and sanctioned by homeland security. Colleges seek homeland certification to get additional funding from the government.
Now is the Virginia tech murders, a rush to judgment of the campus security program, campus police and administration began immediately by the press. This will be the hot topic for some time. Their will be a shift in concentration for campus security planning.
Planning, training, educating, financing and implementation are the only answer.
Would that stop a nut, a maniac from causing violence, murder or terrorism? Probably not! However the response from planning and training will greatly reduce exposure to all.
Financing and prioritizing security issues may deter the potential stalker or violent person to move to another location, or even give up on the idea. Training of personnel, students and school workers may aid in identifying a potential problem. Once identified it could be addressed to reduce the possibility of violence or even murder.
It’ obvious that someone on campus knew something, saw something and didn’t recognize the potential problem. If they did, they may not have known who to report the facts to, or may not have wanted to get involved. Get involved!!!
In memory of the victims of the
Virginia tech April 16, 2007 shootings
The tragedy at Virginia tech highlights the issue of college campus security & safety. It takes a disaster like this to raise questions of security and guns.
today I’ve listened to many talking heads on news shows; security experts, hand gun advocates, former law enforcers, police chiefs and college administrators, they are all reaching for an answer to explain the circumstances that led to the massacre on this vast sprawling campus. With more than 26 buildings spread over miles and more than 20,000 students, securing the campus takes more than policing and electronics
planning security programs for college campuses, high rise office complexes and government facilities requires a concentrated effort of multiple disciplines; defensive space planning, security technology, policing, policies and administration, just to name a few. Protecting a large environment like Virginia tech is not an impossible task. It requires more than police. It takes planning, coordination and a management team from various disciplines meeting monthly and discussing issues, including suggestions to correct conditions of concern.
The questions that I propose to any college administration are;
*do we have priority planning for our
Security program?
*which departments are part of the
planning?
*what topics, other than cameras, bells
and whistles are reviewed?
Security is most often considered a step-child to a college institution or business. Security budgets are often shortchanged and lack the substance to deliver an effective level of security. Not to say that this is the case at Virginia tech, however on the surface it’s been highlighted that there were no security cameras recording the events of the incident, no access controls during daylight hours, and a confusing hit/miss method or procedure for notification to the students.
A 26,000 student population brings crime and security issues. This is a small city, with multiple cultures inter-acting, likes and dislikes good and evil.
The massacred multiple homicides, the largest murder scene in the history of American college institutions, require an audit examination of all college campus security plans. I’m sure that college campuses across America are evaluating their security programs.
Does this mean that the “good ol’ boy” networks of former police officers or FBI agents with little or no college campus security planning experience will be knocking on every college campus president’s door? Probably!
There is a naive expectation that because someone who was an FBI agent or police officer, he/she is experienced in security planning. Often this may not be the case. their professional experience in fighting crime, handling family disputes, responding to after the fact crime scenes does not necessarily transform into qualified security planners. Education & experience in security planning, defensive space planning human inter-action and even emergency response to such incidents requires repetitive review and continuous evaluation. An independent audit by security planners may offer suggestions not seen by the campus security officer or administrator.
Often the freedom of student life, the demands from student unions, faculty, administration and even the ACLU prevents “big brother” from watching over the student body. This often results in limiting acceptable security standards. Often community standards dictate the security plan, until a tragic incident occurs.
What do parents do now?
Sending your kids off to college this summer, one has to consider the elements of security on the campus.
· What’s the level of crime, violence, security policy and procedures, training of Ra’s and campus police as well as every college professor, faculty members and even the cleaning staff? Find this info at www. department of education/ post secondary education.gov
· How “up to date” is the security plan?
· What security electronics are in place?
· How will the planners assist the administration to meet a standard of security?
· What about the notification process?
· What is the lock-down procedure for the campus?
As the memorial services honor the 32 lives lost from this tragic event, the lack of feeling safe vs. being safe is on the minds of all those students and faculty coping with the trauma.
Guns and mental health
The ’32 clearance’ report
Now the questions of guns and mental health issues arise. It takes an incident like this for the politicians to question accessibility of guns against the right to bear arms, a constitutional guarantee.
Everyday in America the innocent are shot, murdered by gun violence. It’s not the gun that kills but rather the human who pulls the trigger. It takes evil on a safe college campus to get the discussion going about gun control. It’s not gun control but rather the policy and procedures as to the mental health of gun owners. This was not a gun bought on the streets or in a back alley. It was bought at a licensed gun dealer, ammunition bought over the internet and a lack of verification of the mental health of the purchaser.
Politicians have jumped on the bandwagon to protect us by limiting gun purchases by the mentally ill. How do we define the mentally ill? Is it an actor who screams profanity at his child? Who is to decide who gets a gun and who doesn’t? Should all gun purchasers be forced to wait a full thirty days, before they are issued a gun or gun permit? Just a criminal background check has proven that this information is not adequate to protect the community from such evil. A 30 day waiting period allows for an adequate background evaluation. This would include court records on pending litigation or other action. It should confirm the mental health status of the applicant.
Don’t blame the gun, blame the lack of effective background profiling of purchasers before the gun is issued.
for the students and faculty who lost their lives at Virginia tech, it’s too late, but maybe in the honor and memory of the 32 who fell victim to the anger and rage from this mentally unstable student, a passage of a 30 day waiting period, “32 clearance”, requiring the purchaser to provide a detailed affidavit as to personal mental health should be part of the application. The purchaser pays for the background confirmation, offers the community a level of protection from another violent action by an unstable mentally deranged individual.
The “32 clearance” report will protect communities from the unstable amongst us. This would be a true honor to those who lost their lives at Virginia tech.
Currently it’s reported by media reports that more than 83% of Americans believe that the mentally ill should not have access to purchase guns. Let’s take that % and turn it into a positive step to protect the community.
Tell us what you think!
Parents can check out the security program at the university or college that their children will attend. You are entitled to view the crime reports; the u.s justice department collects data on campus crimes. Security organizations, like the American society of industrial security can offer parents a security profile of college campuses.
This is about policy and procedures to evaluate student’s safety and stability, review of reported domestic incidents on/off campus by students should be considered.
· What does the high school record suggest? Family related problems etc.
· Should college campuses conduct student profiles, to insure that they have not offered a student that’s a stalker, criminal or even a sympathizer of terroristic behavior, a seat on the campus?
Will this be the wake-up call to the ivy tower set?
· Will college life and the professor’s who seek open academic freedom change to address reality?
· What about academic freedom? How will Virginia tech’s massacre affect scholastic freedom?
Along came 9/11 and the concept of security planning changed from corporate to governmental objectives. Many programs today are planned and sanctioned by homeland security. Colleges seek homeland certification to get additional funding from the government.
Now is the Virginia tech murders, a rush to judgment of the campus security program, campus police and administration began immediately by the press. This will be the hot topic for some time. Their will be a shift in concentration for campus security planning.
Planning, training, educating, financing and implementation are the only answer.
Would that stop a nut, a maniac from causing violence, murder or terrorism? Probably not! However the response from planning and training will greatly reduce exposure to all.
Financing and prioritizing security issues may deter the potential stalker or violent person to move to another location, or even give up on the idea. Training of personnel, students and school workers may aid in identifying a potential problem. Once identified it could be addressed to reduce the possibility of violence or even murder.
It’ obvious that someone on campus knew something, saw something and didn’t recognize the potential problem. If they did, they may not have known who to report the facts to, or may not have wanted to get involved. Get involved!!!
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