The Badger Herald: Opinion: Quick on the draw

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Quick on the draw

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By Badger Herald Editorial Board
Tuesday, October 2, 2007 12:00 a.m.

2 Vote 0 Votes

Increased crime in Madison and the specter of last year's Virginia Tech shootings have made campus safety a top priority at the University of Wisconsin. While the UW population always hopes a large-scale emergency won't occur here, administrators have insisted the campus is prepared for such an incident. Last week, this claim was tested — not once, but twice.

On Tuesday, Jesse A. Miller, 19, called UW police Tuesday, claiming he was at a UW hospital parking ramp, armed and ready to be killed by a police officer. UW police took immediate action, clearing the UW Health Sciences complex and issuing a mass e-mail alert to students and faculty to stay out of the area. After an extensive search and investigation, the alert was lifted and classes continued the next day, uninterrupted.

Three days later, the UW campus was again placed on alert after an armed robbery took place near the Southeast end of campus. Once again, UW police acted quickly, ordering a lockdown of the administrative building at 21 N. Park St., as well as Ogg and Smith Halls.

UW officials' prompt and effective reaction to these threats has proven the strength of the university's security protocol. With safety risks that could have easily led to misinformation and panic, the rapid response of UWPD and campus administrators led to effective crisis management in both situations.

While we commend officials on their handling of each situation, we would suggest a minor tweak to their response repertoire. While mass e-mail alerts reach every student and faculty member's inbox, not everyone will see that e-mail. There is one other option that could allow UW to notify students at a moment's notice: text-messaging their cell phones.

At St. John's University in Queens, N.Y., last week, a man approached campus with a rifle in a plastic bag. Students were informed of safe locations and security protocol via the university's emergency "Text Message System," minutes after police were alerted. The man was quickly apprehended, and no shots were fired.

The UW campus would be wise to follow the lead of St. John's and other universities that have established this procedure. Not only do text message alerts reduce campus response time, they're a cost-efficient security solution. According to The New York Times, estimates for other university's text-messaging systems hover around $25,000, a small amount considering the disaster it could prevent.

Last year, UW administrators discussed the possibility of implementing a text message alert system in cases of campuswide emergency. We think it's a good policy, provided the simple caveat that the program be voluntary, allowing students to opt-in.

It seems common sense for UW officials to employ an additional layer of security for students and faculty. Given recent events and the campus climate, it's not only justified — it's necessary.

2 Comments | Leave a comment

Anonymous | October 2, 2007 8:49 AM | Reply

As long as I have the option of not getting the text messages this is fine.

Mike Pruden | October 2, 2007 11:34 AM | Reply

While it may be another good thing to do, it's still not going to be very effective, just as with using emails or Facebook to notify students.

The reason is because that, during lecture, students, at the request of most (if not all) professors, turn off or silence their phones during class. So if a shooter barges into class with guns blazing (literally), no one in that classroom will theoretically know that the shooter was already rampaging earlier.

For instance, if all those students in that German class had their cell phones turned off or silenced and their computers off, and Virginia Tech sent text messages, emails, and Facebook messages to all the students, they still wouldn't have known that a shooter who has already killed several students was still at large.

We need to not rely 'solely' on highest-common-denominator technology and go with more practical measures, such as sirens or campus-wide fire alarms. We need to cater as well to those (the minority now) who don't use cell phones or computers at arm's reach 24/7.