UNCA should enhance student safety after Florida shooting
A'SHA NOBLE
Opinion Staff Writer
anoble@unca.edu
Since the 1999 Colombine di
saster that began the modem era of
school shootings, students, parents
and teachers have worried the same
will happen to them.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School lost 17 students and staff
members in a deadly sehool shoot
ing on Valentine's Day. This shoot
ing is the second-deadliest public
school shooting in the United States
and the 10th school shooting since
the start of 2018.
With school shootings and vio
lent acts happening left and right,
enhancing student safety is the
main priority of the UNC Asheville
police officers. In the past, UNCA
collaborated with first responders
in the area to create a simulated
active shooter incident as a hands-
on training. “We've been doing
active shooter training for staff,
faculty and student employees. In
my meeting with SGA, they have
some wonderful ideas about how
to ineorporate this information into
some curriculum programs that al
ready exist as a better method of de
livering to students,” said Director
of Emergency Management David
Weldon.
Students who have not gone
through active shooter training may
not know what to do if put in this
situation or they may not be aware
of the signs to look for.
Our assistant vice chancellor for
publie safety and chief of police,
Eric Boyce, expressed his concerns
for students not speaking up when
witnessing strange behaviors.
“The main thing we really want
our students to be aware of and
partner with is the ‘see something,
say something’ concept. In a lot
of these subsequent reports and
debriefs behind a lot of these inci
dents that have recently occurred
is that someone knew something
whether by social media, personal
interactions or class interactions
and didn’t say something,” Boyce
said.
When witnessing strange behav
iors from peers or classmates it’s
important that you let someone
know. It is better to be safe than
sorry.
“There is no such thing as over-re-
porting, ” Boyce said.
If going to file a formal report is
out of your comfort zone, there are
other options. Professional staff,
cornmunity directors and resident
assistants are all here to speak to.
Anonymous reporting can be done
by filling out a form online or
through Rocky Shield, the school's
safety app. This report will be kept
confidential.
“Prevention is our best form of
defense against this,” Boyce said.
If there were to be an emergency
on campus it is important to know
what safety signals would sound
and look like. The BulldogAlert
Text & Voice Messaging System
and BulldogAlert Audible Warn
ing System have been put in place
to get important information out
to students, faculty and staff very
quickly.
A BulldogAlert message comes
across via cell phone, digital signs,
speakers on campus and email. The
steps to sign up to receive alerts ean
be found online.
“We have indoor speakers in
some buildings and we have two
speakers raised outdoors,” Boyce
said, “The outdoor speakers would
cover the entire campus. It is very
important for students to know if
an outdoor siren comes on and it
doesn't say that it's a test then it is a
very serious incident and you need
to listen and take heed to what the
siren is telling you to do.”
In the case of an active shooter
on campus, this siren would sound
followed by an audible message,
Weldon said.
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