Following April’s tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, security has become a major issue facing universities across the United States. RPI has responded to the Virginia Tech incident by working, along with the help of the Troy Police Department, to improve campus security.
RPI has taken numerous steps, particularly over the past few years, to protect students on campus in the event of an emergency. However, the Institute’s tragedy in the CII last March, coupled with that at Virginia Tech in April, prompted RPI to take another look at security.
Since these incidents, the Institute has been researching a variety of different ways to protect its campus, ranging from new cameras to notification systems, as well as preparing emergency drills and furthering the Institute’s relationship with Troy Police Department.
Although RPI had scheduled a mutual aid drill with the TPD and SWAT team for August 6, the drill was canceled due to interdepartmental problems at the police department, according to Director of Public Safety Jerry Matthews. “We hope to reschedule the drills to take place by mid-November, since it will involve evacuating a building and having students stand outside. We don’t want the weather to get too cold, otherwise we’ll have to push it back to probably April,” he said.
Matthews is not worried about having to push back the drill into the fall. “We’ve already had several drills with the department,” he said. “They know the campus, and know how and where to respond to an emergency.” RPI has already held an evacuation drill at the Houston Field House, two hostage drills—one at the Rensselaer Critical Facility and the other at the Heffner Alumni House—and a familiarization drill at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies.
On July 30, Public Safety also held a tabletop drill of what to do in the event of a epidemic on campus, such as an influenza outbreak.
“We work on a weekly basis with the Troy Police Department, and have an excellent working relationship. They are eager to respond and be available,” said Matthews.
Public Safety has been doing significant research on new methods of emergency notification systems, and has narrowed numerous options down two three or four. In order to reach as many students as possible through these notification systems, Public Safety is taking a layered approach. Matthews said, “By having several ways to notify people, someone will hopefully be able to get to get the information that they need in an emergency situation.” Students can already be notified through the RPI website and e-mails, but other methods of notification are being considered, including cell phones, upgraded blue-light phones, and a loudspeaker system.
Matthews is highly interested in a loudspeaker system at this point in time. One system currently being looked into has a stationary speaker that can be used as a mass notification system. The system would be put on top of the Visitor’s Center, in-between the residential and academic portions of campus. “It is crystal clear up to a mile away, depending on the topography of the campus,” said Matthews. Another speaker would also be used to augment the stationary one, which will be portable and therefore, be brought to other locations on campus that might not be able to hear the one on the Visitor’s Center.
The speaker systems also can have a camera placed on top of them, which will allow Public Safety to survey a great deal of campus in an emergency and then relay that information. “The system is very simplistic in operation, but at the same time, very effective. We have a system in place, but we’re always looking to improve what’s already there,” remarked Matthews.
Cameras are also an integral part of the plans to enhance security on campus. Additional cameras are going to be installed near the construction site of the East Campus Athletic Village. The blue-light phones that are on the inside of the construction site are being moved outside of the area, and having cameras affixed to the top of three or four of them. This is the first step, according to Matthews, toward the closed-circuit television smart camera system that has been considered by many universities since the Virginia Tech tragedy.
These cameras can detect suspicious behavior and send a signal to the campus security office telling them to take a second look at that camera’s particular video feed, where the officer can then decide if there is something wrong.
“We want to put them on top of the phones for a few reasons,” explained Matthews. “First of all, they are all over the campus. They also are the right height so that you can see a decent surrounding of the area. Lastly, they can be incident-driven. In case something happens where the person can’t get to the phone, we will still be notified that something’s going on.”
Following Virginia Tech, some campuses also decided to arm their security officers. Matthews stated he did not see any plans to move toward it in the future. “We have the Troy Police Department and SWAT teams only a short while away and we seem to manage very well this way.”
A community forum is also planned for September 21 that will be a follow-up to the one held last April, in response to the Virginia Tech shooting. The upcoming campus forum will address concerns and measures taken over the past few months by Public Safety and the administration on campus regarding security and safety of RPI’s students.
Public Safety is working non-stop to finalize plans of what systems to actually purchase for RPI, and hope to finalize and approve plans to improve campus security within the next couple of months. “We are looking to fine-tune and improve our current systems, as well as augment them in any way we can to make the campus a more secure place for our students,” said Matthews.
