2008 Woodie Awards
Shooter drill takes place in Salazar Hall
Long-anticipated exercise good for police, but leaves others with questions
Skylar James
Issue date: 5/6/08 Section: News
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"My initial reaction is that [the day's events] went well," said Police Chief Nate Johnson. "There were many things that went well, and [the drills] gave officers… practice in what they have been trained to do, and how they have been trained to do it."
The event started with several Police Service employees taping signs on the entrance doors to Salazar. They also placed display signs outside and inside of the actual building. All signs informed that a police drill would start at 12:30 p.m. and last until 2:00 p.m.
In addition to the signs, Police Service officers and employees roamed the halls of Salazar, handing out red notification fliers.
Before any drill began, all five of the on-duty participating officers checked their guns, ammunition, tazers and any other tools that could be used to stop a suspect in a real situation.
All officers were then issued "red guns," which are replica guns used during training and drills. No officers participated in the drill without the prop gun.
At 12:45 p.m., the long anticipated ASD began.
Three police officers came in through the main entrance of Salazar Hall, each wielding a training handgun. Guns drawn, the police announced their presence by shouting that they were police officers, and proceeded to ask where the gunman was located. Due to the fact that this was a drill, the police were merely being rhetorical, as there was no one playing the role of an assailant.
After securing the Information Desk and the Advising and EOP offices, the three officers made their way upstairs and infiltrated the Admissions and Records office. Inside, the lights had been turned off.
One officer shouted for those inside to get onto the ground, and asked whether they had seen the shooter. Two student receptionists and one other bystander complied and sat on the ground.
"That was really scary actually," said Karina Muro. "When they came in… I thought they had [real] guns."
This same scenario was duplicated throughout all of Salazar. A team of police would go inside a room or work area, address anyone inside, and then run through motions of securing the area.
There was an additional team that arrived shortly after the first team had come in. They proceeded to secure much of the bottom floor.
After both police teams had rendezvoused at the top floor of Salazar, the officers and Deputy Police Chief Miller informed all onlookers that the drill was over.
Throughout the day, Susan Kashak, Associate Vice President for Communications & Marketing, sent out several informative e-mails. Though imitating an actual emergency e-mail, all blatantly informed students that the e-mails and procedures were part of a drill.
In addition to the regular on duty SSU Police participating, there was also other local law enforcement and first responders who were called. Although they did not participate in entering Salazar Hall, their purpose was to gauge how quickly SSU could expect help if an emergency actually occurred.
"We wanted to see what the response would be, given the regular resources we would have in the area," said Johnson.
Perhaps overshadowed by the excitement aroused from the ASD, the testing of Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was an equally important exercise during the day's events.
The EOC follows regulations set by the state Incident Command System, and functions by collecting key members from the community after a disaster. These members comprise six different groups, each charged with a different task targeted towards pacifying and restoring the campus.
The Command, Planning and Intelligence, Operations, Logistics, Finance and Administration, and Academic Recovery groups are comprised of community leaders from all facets of the campus, including Administration, academic departments and Dining Services.
In order to learn the most from both the ASD and testing of the EOC, the police are conducting an "After Action Report." The report will be available before the completion of this semester.
"These [drills] were also geared to identify potential short comings in areas we need to improve upon as well, and we have a list of those, which we will be enhancing," said Johnson, adding that it was so successful that the drills may happen more often.
Though the logistics of the ASD may have become much clearer on April 30, the student and faculty response remained mixed.
"It's a little unsettling. It really brings it home that our campus could have something like Virginia Tech happen to it," said student James Alderson. "I really feel like we could have done something else. It could have been better planning. It was during registration week, so everyone is taking it half heartedly, where as if we had a campus lock down, it would have [affected] everyone on campus… It's still unsettling, but it doesn't quite feel authentic."
In a later interview with Miller, she explained that there was only one located drill because Police Services wanted to provide a minimal amount of disturbance to the community.
While not physically disturbed during the drills, many classes have debated the ASD in the months leading up to it.
"I feel like the student body and faculty should have been better informed about what was actually going to take place," said sophomore Samantha Westhorpe. "If the teachers had a better idea of what plans were for the drill, there would have been less confusion and rumors."
In Westhorpe's case, the most outrageous rumors were that the police officers would use real guns with fake bullets, and that students should bring food incase they were detained within their class room.
There were no specific details given by Police Services to the general public, other than the time and an ambiguous description of the events.
"The students were really left in the dark about the drill, we only received vague details," said sophomore Taylor Barcellos. "I did not receive the e-mail until later that night. If it were a real life situation I wouldn't have known what was going on."
"My biggest issue with this drill is that classes have no procedures or organized steps on what to do [if there was a shooter]," said sophomore Kim Kippel. "Classes should be informed on procedures to be taken."
Though there were red fliers handed out before the drill inside Salazar, the rest of the campus was only sent an e-mail.
The fliers handed out, however, were equally confusing for those who received them. They asked a series of questions, such as: could the students escape the building, could they barricade their door to buy time, and what a student would do if confronted by a gunman? The red fliers offered no solutions.
Students exiting Salazar when the drill was announced expressed concern over the fliers. One female student explained that she was very disappointed when her class attempted to barricade their door, only to find that the door swung out, and opened up into the hallway.
On the other side of the spectrum, various departments in Salazar had prepared for such an event before any drill occurred.
"This area… in administration and finance has a full action plan," said Jaime Russell, Interim Manager For Finance. "I serve as the area martial…. We've all been trained and designated in this, and we pass the information to the people in our area."
"I think the only moment that people were scared was when the police officers came through, because we weren't sure if they were police officers or posing as shooters," continued Russell. "It took us all by surprise, but that's the reality of it, so it was okay."
SSU is now part of two-thirds of the 23 CSU campuses that have completed their mandated active shooter drills.
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