UMPD prepares for worst

By Adam Coulter, DailyCollegian.com

In the face of violent outbursts at UMass and other college campuses the University of Massachusetts Police Department conducted “active threat training” this summer.

Nationwide and locally, the past two years featured shocking campus violence. From the Virginia Tech shooting, which attracted the international press, to instances at UMass, this reality signaled a need for a multifaceted approach to curbing the dangerous trend.

Former Virginia Tech student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded scores of others before killing himself. In his wake, the school’s administrators were criticized for failing to notice Cho’s bizarre behavior, and questions were asked concerning how Cho was able to carry out two separate attacks that day, hours apart. Reports from public and private groups detailed campus police’s response and shocked many who read them.

The UMass campus experienced its own scares this past school year. A concentrated number of them occurred in a three-week period in February. Besides the expected misdemeanors such as property damage and graffiti, there were assaults, two separate stabbings, an attempted rape and an attempted murder.

“I’ve been on campus 20 years and we still see the trends of graffiti and destruction of property,” said UMPD Deputy Chief of Administration Patrick Archbald. The minor offenses will likely continue, so the UMPD entered the Isenberg School of Management early in June to begin training to prepare for more serious circumstances.

“Active threat training” is not a new exercise. It goes back roughly five years. But the unpredictability of burgeoning crimes makes clear a need to adapt police strategies.

“We did this exact training in the Mullins Center in 2002 and 2003, but what we did post Virginia Tech was to involve the whole department,” said Deputy Chief Archbald. “Before it was just the tactical team, but Virginia Tech taught us that you can’t wait for the tactical team. Research has shown, a shooting happens in minutes, and you have to have vital officers available. You have to have every officer available and ready because the shooter will act quickly without much notice.”

The training was held in Bartlett Hall last year with 63 officers participating and 3-to-4 officers instructing groups of between 5-and-8 people. The same number applied this year; but as two UMPD deputy chiefs agreed, the training should be, and is, different each year.

“This is an opportunity to refresh and reinforce skills and to train, and the utilizing of different buildings on campus is good for officers to become familiar with the whole area,” said Deputy Chief Johnny Whitehead.

Archbald added, “Every closet and every cubby represents a challenge to officers. We utilize everything, and we are refining and building on skills from last year. We are basically adding to the diversity of the training.”

While no “active threat” instances have occurred at UMass, there were two stabbings last year might have required the acquired skills.

“These were the two closest, though the situations were well contained, and officers were on scene immediately,” said Archbald. In late April, students in a Journalism 300 class asked then-Interim Chancellor Thomas Cole Jr. to comment on the campus crime. He told them “UMass is like a small city; and for a small city, the crime experienced is relatively normal.” Deputy Chief Archbald agreed with Cole’s statement and revealed a plan for possibly curbing some campus problems this year.

“We are working with the freshman class closely. With a class of 4,000-5,000, it’s a much larger size than where they’re coming from,” he said. One of the lessons taught is how the entering class can best protect themselves in a new, larger environment.

“We work on setting expectations when students arrive,” said Ed Blaguszewski, the University’s public information officer, when asked about the collaboration.

Two tools in use this year are the Subscription Text Message Service and the “Party House Bylaws,” – a result of the spring initiatives. The text message service was introduced and tested last April and will be in operation again this year.

“In the fall there will be an aggressive enrollment campaign to grow the number of participants,” Blaguszewski said. As of this past April, 4,000 people were registered.

To deter off-campus crime, administrators are hoping new “Party House Bylaws” will help to quell violence’s effect on campus. The aim is to hold the owners of off-campus houses more accountable for parties through legal sanctions.

“All of us are part of the community, and when off-campus parties are held, our responsibility doesn’t end,” said Blaguszewski.