Student Safety Continues to Be a High Priority Item in UC Planning

University of Cincinnati officials are planning for a safe start to the academic year.

Of course, the largest question in the minds of many students and their parents this fall involves campus safety in light of last year’s tragic mass shooting at Virginia Tech.

UC safety officials are reviewing planning and training, including reports prepared about the Virginia Tech incident by Virginia officials plus a handful of safety reports from other states completed in light of the incident. UC was also represented on an Ohio Task Force on Campus Safety and Security by Capt. Jeff Corcoran, UC’s director of emergency services, and Professor of Criminal Justice Bonnie Fisher, an expert on crime prevention and victimization.

Campus safety leaders are evaluating UC plans in the areas of prevention, planning, response and recovery.

According to Corcoran, UC’s planning is taking into account new lessons learned since Virginia Tech. "We elevated the level of training for our officers in responding to a critical campus incident a number of years ago in the aftermath of the Columbine tragedy," says Corcoran. "That had us reasonably well-prepared. From a tactical standpoint, this incident didn’t create any great change for us, but we are reviewing what we do to meet every recommendation made by the Ohio task force."

One effort that has been upgraded is establishment of a working group to review procedures and processes for reporting and evaluating potentially violent subjects in the UC community. Representatives from Public Safety, Student Affairs, Human Resources, University Health Services, Resident Education and Development and the College of Medicine are all involved in reviewing those processes.

Communicating quickly with the campus community essential details about an emergency was another critical point that came out of the Virginia Tech tragedy. UC is at the head of the class on that issue, according to Corcoran, with its campus-wide voice warning system.

The system allows for specific details to be shared rapidly across every building on campus. "Some people have talked about text messaging as a means for notification, but voice warning systems are really the gold standard that everybody is looking at," Corcoran says. It allows everyone, including visitors, direct access to critical details in a rapid fashion.

UC has committed to making review of this kind of emergency planning an ongoing effort. The statewide task force is likely to continue meeting into the future, and UC is also helping to establish a local consortium group among area universities that will meet regularly to discuss campus safety issues.

In addition, UC Police will continue to conduct tactical drills to prepare for any kind of campus safety emergency. The next major drill is schedule to take place in October.

Other crime prevention efforts will continue to be a priority at UC, as the university strives to create as safe an environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors as possible.

At the start of school, a door-hanger distribution campaign will take place throughout all of UC’s residence halls, offering tips to UC students on proven ways they can safeguard themselves against crime risks. Also early in the quarter, UC Police will be overseeing an effort to get information on common sense ways to reduce the risk of car break-ins to students and others who park in UC’s parking garages.

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