Posted on 04/16/2007 6:17:51 PM PDT by kellynla
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- On a university campus of 2,600 acres, with more than 26,000 students, ironclad security is not a practical goal. Even so, tough questions swiftly surfaced as to how effectively Virginia Tech authorities responded to Monday's horrific massacre.
Why were campus police so sure the threat was contained in one dormitory, when most of the killings occurred two hours later in a classroom building?
Why did they think the assailant might have left the campus after those initial shootings?
Why was there a lag of more than two hours after the first shootings before an alarm was e-mailed campuswide - around the time another, more deadly burst of carnage occurred? And more generally, some security experts wondered, was the school's crisis planning and emergency communications system up to the task?
Clearly, something went terribly wrong.
Bombarded with security questions at a news conference, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed the shooting at the West Ambler Johnston dorm, first reported about 7:15 a.m., was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.
"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.
The dormitory was locked down immediately after the shooting, Steger said, and a phone bank was activated to alert the resident advisers there so they could go door-to-door warning the 900 students in the dorm. Security guards deployed at the dorm, he said, and others began a sweep across campus.
Asked why he didn't order a lockdown of the entire campus, Steger noted that thousands of nonresident students were arriving for 8 a.m. classes, fanning out across the sprawling campus from their parking spots.
"Where do you lock them down?" Steger asked.
He said security on campus will be tightened now, but offered no details.
"We obviously can't have an armed guard in front of every classroom every day of the year," he said.
Overall, Steger defended the university's response, saying: "You can only made a decision based on the information you know at that moment in time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."
Some students were upset that the gunman was able to strike a second time, saying the first notification they got of the shootings came in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m. The e-mail mentioned a "shooting incident" at West Amber Johnston, said police were investigating, and asked students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.
Student Maurice Hiller said he went to a 9 a.m. class two buildings away from the engineering building, and no warnings were coming over the outdoor public address system on campus at the time.
"I was troubled with the fact that two hours elapsed from the first shooting," said Brant Martel, 23, a junior. "I just feel they were a little slow on their response."
But Edmund Henneke, an associate dean of engineering who was in the building where the second round of shootings occurred, said criticism of the authorities' response was unfair.
"We have a huge campus," he said. "You have to close down a small town and you can't close down every way in or out."
Security experts not connected with Virginia Tech said their immediate questions focused on whether the university had adopted and practiced a plan to handle such dire crises, and whether its system of emergency communications was state-of-the-art.
"It is critical for them to have solid emergency plans in place to deal with crisis situations," said Kenneth Trump of National School and Safety Services in Cleveland. "The key is to have a solid communications component in place to deal with notifying students, parents, faculty, staff and the media whets going on."
"The most critical element that falls apart in any type of emergency, especially at educational institutions, is often communications," Trump said.
Michael Dorn of Safe Havens International in Macon, Ga., which has advised many universities on security measures, said campus emergency plans can be ineffective unless staff and students are trained on how to cooperate.
"They can make the difference between one or two people being victimized and larger numbers," Dorn said. "But it's a lot harder to do that in higher education that in a K-12 school. A lot of higher ed officials don't have the basic things in place that our K-12 schools have."
It was second time in less than a year that the Virginia Tech campus was closed because of a shooting.
Last August, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.
As for other crime on campus, Virginia Tech reported just eight arrests for illegal weapons possession from 2003-05, according to statistics posted by the U.S. Department of Education.
No, the legislature hasn't passed any such law. In fact, Virginia has concealed carry. You're talking about school policy. Long ago, the liberal professoriate at Tech adopted a policy prohibiting anyone from having a firearm on campus without authorization.
Of course getting authorization is impossible for a mere student.
7:14 PDT(thats 10:14ET)
the school blew it
after the first shooting, the school should have been secured, students & employees told to stay in their rooms or wherever the heck they were while a search for the murderer initiated. Heads should roll...starting with Steger .
“I really feel sorry for Steger?”
I NEVER feel sorry for incompetents.
Others suffer because of their incompetence and those who suffer like the families of those murdered are the ones I feel sorry for.
Heads should roll...starting with Steger.
It is totally unrealistic to think that the “school should have been secured” in such a short amount of time. The timeframe is less than 2 hours from discovery of the first victims until the start of the second shootings.
Not a good idea. What if the "fleeing felon" is someone who is going after the fleeing felon. Think about it.
Not a good idea. What if the "fleeing felon" is someone who is chasing after the fleeing felon, and the others only see the 'chaser'. Think about it.
whoops - ignore post #26. Somehow it got posted while I was editing it.
“I’m not sure there’s any evidence Steger is an imcompetent.”
Tell that to the families of those murdered and the wounded!
The school like I already posted. BLEW IT!
The campus should have been secured after the first shootings.
Thank you for your 20-20 hindsight.
To place blame anywhere but on the killer is to stick your head in the sand and hope that “big brother” can make the bad guy go away. To blame the school when you don’t even know all the facts yet is irresponsible on your part.
I suggest you stick to what you know...whatever that is.
I have neither the time or the inclination to educate you on security. But the school FAILED MISERABLY and did in essence NOTHING to inform the students & faculty of the first shooting.
good evening
I fully agree. The next head should be that of their schmuck spokesman who reveled in the fact that 2006 legislation allowing guns on campus never made it out of committee. The next heads should be those legislators who voted to prevent the legislation from getting out of committee.
Whatever, right back at ya.
Some thoughts on the Virginia Tech tragedy.
We are at war, both abroad and AT HOME, with an enemy who has sworn to kill as many of us as possible. This enemy DOES NOT recognize conventional rules of war such as the Geneva Convention. They do not wear recognizable uniforms. This enemy DOES NOT distinguish between military and civilian targets. At present civilian targets in the United States are NOT ARMED and have very little means by which to counter an attack. And because civilian targets are NOT armed, they are a softer, easier, less dangerous target than a heavily armed soldier. For that reason, this enemy PREFERS civilian targets.
As of this writing, we have yet to learn whether the deaths of 32 Americans at Virginia Tech was the work of a disgruntled, deranged student or former university employee.
It’s entirely possible that this killer was, in fact, a member of some radical muslin sect who took it upon himself to conduct what is now being called “instant jihad” against a very soft target, obeying the utterances of one of the more radical Muslim mullahs and randomly killing as many Americans as possible. At least one Muslim cleric has specifically called for the killing of our children. Given the PC environment in this country – which is at its zenith on college campuses – we may NEVER learn that fact from the authorities in charge of this investigation AND IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE THE DEFENSELESS VICTIMS ARE JUST AS DEAD!
Israel has been at war with these folks for more than half a century. The Israelis know that it is NOT possible to have enough police out there to protect their civilian population. For that reason, it is common to see Israeli citizens – admittedly former military (as most Israelis are) going about their daily lives – with an Uzi slung under their arm! Most Israeli citizens carry smaller weapons not so easily seen. Because they ARE at war, they are an ARMED society. Yes, they ARE attacked. But –with the exception of suicide bombers — the attackers know that they will either be killed BEFORE the body count mounts or will certainly die before fleeing the scene.
The Israelis REFUSE to live as prisoners. Many of them had experienced that in Europe. They KNEW what they had to do and did it: THEY GRASPED THE SIMPLE FACT THAT WHEN IT CAME TO IMMEDIATE PERSONAL SECURITY, A CITIZEN IS ON HIS OWN AND ALLOW THEIR CITIZENS THE GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES!
Any guesses when American “authorities” will begin to connect the dots? Can you say “never?” Without SERIOUS public pressure on these “authorities,” we will continue to die needlessly while waiting for the SWAT boys to show up.
What amazes me is that more of this sort of thing hasn’t happened in OTHER soft targets like public and private schools, shopping malls, theaters, sports bars (most states currently prohibit even CCW permit holders from carrying in bars), restaurants, etc.
The enemy is NOT stupid. This is just the beginning.
And if you think you and yours will NOT be in the cross-hairs, think again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73SsNFgBO4
you’re welcome
now, maybe next time there is a shooting on a school; the Lefties running it will have the good sense to call the police.
good evening
Amen. We’ll hear more about it but the police knew that people had been shot, as far they knew the shooter was still at large, they could have at least put out a serious warning (what was that “use caution” business?), and they didn’t. Nothing to see here, folks.
They may feel terrible about it but they dropped the ball big time and are now in damage control PR mode. There’s no reason to have any confidence in them or in campus security there. I would get out of there fast, or get my kid out of there fast.
Right to keep and bear arms notwithstanding, colleges don’t generally let students bring guns onto campus and that isn’t likely to change (it sure won’t at Va. Tech after this), so you depend on campus security. Doesn’t sound like there is much there.
So how much is enough? Should there be a "security officer" in every classroom monitoring the class? Or perhaps cameras covering every square foot of the country with attendants watching to keep us safe?
Will you trade your liberties for supposed security?
That may be true, but they obviously didn’t learn from their past mistakes that are clearly shown in their rear view mirror.
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