Despite the recent influx of shootings nationwide, Duke students should feel safe on campus, police officials say.
Recent tragedies such as the July 20 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. where 12 were killed and 57 were injured, the Aug. 5 shooting at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee, Wis. where six were killed and four were injured and the Aug. 15 shooting at a Virginia chapter of the Family Research Council have garnered massive media attention on the issue of single-perpetrator violence in the United States. Many active shooting incidents have occurred on college campuses over the past decade, raising concerns about whether Duke is safe from such crimes, said sophomore Ngozi Esomonu.
“Duke’s campus is open to the public—anybody,” she said. “A student or a non-student can come armed and pose a threat to the entire campus. I don’t know how I or other students would react.”
In response to the recent shootings, the Duke University Police Department and the Durham Police Department took steps to improve their training programs this summer to better prepare officers to respond to active shooter situations, DUPD Chief John Dailey wrote in an email Sunday. Additional preventative measures were implemented to protect the Duke community.
“For a number of years, all North Carolina law enforcement agencies, including the DUPD, have been required to conduct state-developed training to respond to active shooters,” he said.
The DUPD also offers safety videos and training sessions to members of the Duke community—including students, general staff and health care staff—to raise awareness about important safety tactics in situations involving an active shooter.
Despite the availability of such programs that are specifically tailored to students, some students have noted a lack of communication between the student body and those in charge of safety.
“I definitely do feel safe on campus,” said sophomore Cayley Larimer. “I see police and security cars patrolling campus often, but I don’t think students consider the event of a shooter on campus.... I would say we’re not very prepared. I wouldn’t really know what to do.”
The training programs are available to all groups and individuals who request training, but they are not mandatory, Dailey said. He acknowledged that most requests come from employees, not students.
Larimer added that she thinks the student body would benefit from a more steady dialogue between the police and Duke community on what to do in the case of an active shooter on campus.
“Students would be willing to learn how to keep themselves and their peers safe,” she said. “We want to make the community a better and safer place. Times like [freshman orientation] would be a good opportunity to teach students what to do.”
Esomonu said many students would not know how to protect themselves if confronted with an active shooter, adding that there should be a mandatory training session during orientation week that would help prepare first-year students to respond to such threats.
Although he did not share specifics on DUPD’s response plan, Dailey said getting away from the shooter is the most important safety tactic for people on campus.
“The [Federal Emergency Management Agency] recommends that individuals who find themselves in an active violence situation should first attempt to evacuate,” he said.
Dailey added that proactive preventative measures, such as the North Carolina state law prohibiting concealed weapons on university campuses, are the best ways to keep campuses safe from shooters.
“Prevention is clearly the goal. Duke has a number of departments on campus and in the hospital that meet regularly and coordinate daily to share information,” Dailey noted.
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