NEWS

Tristate universities train often for 'active shooters'

Chris Graves
cgraves@enquirer.com
SWAT stands outside of Watts Hall during active shooter investigation at OSU.

One of the first things James Whalen did after being named University of Cincinnati Public Safety Director last year was establish training for an "active shooter" scenario like the one that unfolded Monday morning at The Ohio State University.

Then he and his team started training faculty, staff and students on what to do in the event an attacker arrives on campus intent to kill or harm.

And currently under development: A $400,000 emergency management operation center at UC where authorities from across the campus, the city and elsewhere will come together to manage crises, he said. It was just such a center that The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety powered up Monday after Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 20, drove his car into pedestrians on the sidewalk, then got out and and started stabbing victims with a butcher's knife on campus.

The UC center will include 24 work stations and is slated to be completed by next fall, said UC police spokeswoman Michele Ralston.

The center will similar to the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Regional Emergency Operations Center, Whalen said

"We needed to have a place and the ability where those with different but related jobs can talk,'' he said. "You need to have a facility, where phones and computers are right there. It's not efficient otherwise."

After OSU attack, sadness and shrugs

Campus training constant

Attacks like the one at OSU remain relatively rare across the nation. However, campus police chiefs and other officials all said authorities would be remiss if their universities did not continually train and educate faculty, staff and students on what to do -- and what not to do -- in an active shooter scenario. This week, UC will host to "shelter-in-place" workshops. Just last week, Xavier University Police Chief Joseph Milek trained about 30 staff members in an active shooter seminar.

"Who would have known that less than a week later, we would all be watching it live on TV,'' Milek said. "The main goal is to get people thinking in advance. It can be little things, but they are important: How many exits are there to get out of your area? Where are they? We get complacent; but this isn't rocket science.

"But you do have to put effort into preparing,'' he said. "It just pays off."

Miami University in Oxford and Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights conduct similar training and drills, officials said. Less than two weeks ago, Miami University sent an email reminding its faculty and staff about its safety resources and protocols in the event of a campus crisis. That email followed a Sept. 30 campus-wide email encouraging everyone to review the school's safety protocols.

Miami spokeswoman Claire Wagner said the first thing she did when she heard the OSU news was to check an emergency website the university keeps inactive on a third-party platform in the case of a crisis. It worked.

"You prep hoping you never use it," said said.

All the universities use common-place systems that allow students, faculty, staff and parents to receive electronic alerts and phone calls simultaneously. It's the same system that sends weather alerts that close or delay classes.

In addition, college campuses use various social media platforms to alert students to ongoing threats. Some also provide instructions. On other campuses, including at UC that has a 24-hour police dispatch system, audio instructions can be sent into buildings. The school did that in October when a gunman fired a shot on campus. He was later arrested and no one was hurt.

"It's scary to think about but an active shooter is something we all need to be prepared for,'' Whalen says on a 25-minute video and Powerpoint presentation on its website. The presentation steps viewers through what has quickly become the three-stop protocol most area universities tell students, staff and faculty to use: Run. Hide. Fight. The idea is to run out of a building or away from the threat if you can; hide out of view and behind locked doors if you can't get away; and finally, fight the attacker if confronted.

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Those instructions, which were communicated in one of OSU's first alerts Monday and outlined in a fast-paced video its police department created last year, come from the Department of Homeland Security. The phrase is a registered trademark of the City of Houston, which helped to create the national model for surviving an active shooter. Xavier uses the six-minute video to help in its ongoing training.

Milek and Whalen both said they and their colleagues learn from each crisis. Monday's in Columbus will be no different.

"It looked pretty textbook to me," Milek said. "But they will go over this with a fine-tooth comb to see what can be learned."