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Critics Blister Va. Tech on Campus Security (PC Campus Police Did Nothing Because of Lawyers)
NewsMax.com ^ | April 17, 2007

Posted on 04/17/2007 10:03:44 PM PDT by TBP

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: massacre; pc; shooting; virginiatech
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To: RobbyS
Minority Report. The short story by Philip K. Dick was far better than the movie.

Outside of employing psychics to prevent crime I don't think it's going to happen....

81 posted on 04/18/2007 8:19:33 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Just my opinion, no relationship to reality is expressed or implied.)
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To: a_dem_no_more
"the police really didnt screw this up. They thought had a boyfriend/girlfriend domestic homicide and had the boyfriend in for questioning at the time, that would fit as to why they didnt lock the rest of the campus down, they thought they had their guy."

They screwed up big time. I doubt very much the ex b/f, or the new one said, or indicated that they did it, or were caught in any manner of suspicious activity. No gun was found also. It was very bad to assume they had the situation under control, and that they had the guilty party. The excuse that, "they thought they had their guy" doesn't fly. There was in fact, no competent person in charge of evaluating what they had in front of them.

82 posted on 04/18/2007 8:46:42 AM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: Captainpaintball
Do you know why they rushed everyone to that ridiculous “Heal, heal, heal!!!” ceremony today

I didn't see this thing.

Did they all wear their gowns with the sashes and the tassels?

83 posted on 04/18/2007 8:50:38 AM PDT by HIDEK6
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To: RobbyS
But who could have anticipated such an eventuality?

It would seem to me that every security force responsible for protecting a potential terrorist target should have a contingency plan as to what to do if violence erupts.

It's not like it never happens.

It's ridiculous to say that this shooting would take the professional security types by surprise.

Isn't this how they earn their paychecks?

84 posted on 04/18/2007 8:54:50 AM PDT by HIDEK6
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To: capitalist229

” Because candles have replaced guns.’

When you see yellow ribbons replace the flag, you know the national mood has taken the same dive.


85 posted on 04/18/2007 9:42:18 AM PDT by gcruse
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To: jdm; ketsu
If they were running off and looking for him (which I'm not saying isn't true) it's a shame that five hours passed (7:15AM to 12:20PM appx., when he was found dead). They essentially caught up with him when the damage (much damage) had already been done.

You're failing to look at this in a realistic way. For instance, if someone had just reported a bank robbery and the police arrived on the scene after the bank robber had fled, the police not going to go to other banks on the same street to see if, perhaps, the bank robber was in one of them waiting to rob it. They would not close down all the other banks on that street. Neither would the bank that was robbed close down all the other branches of that bank in the near vicinity or in the city because they thought the robber would be likely to go into one of them. The robber would be unlikely to do this.
86 posted on 04/18/2007 9:50:11 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: TBP

Why should they worry, Ta Tech was a “Gun Free” campus. Libs believe words make a difference.

Pray for W and Va Tech


87 posted on 04/18/2007 9:52:07 AM PDT by bray (The Surge is Working against both enemies of America)
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To: aruanan
You're failing to look at this in a realistic way. For instance, if someone had just reported a bank robbery and the police arrived on the scene after the bank robber had fled, the police not going to go to other banks on the same street to see if, perhaps, the bank robber was in one of them waiting to rob it.

That is not a good analogy. Bank robbers have one thing in mind after obtaining the loot. Get away fast.

In addition, there have been bank robberies that have been foiled by quick law enforcement response, where the getaway car fled before the accomplices could get to the car, or bank robbers being pursued after the robbery crashed and fled on foot, causing 30 city block areas to be locked down by law enforcement perimeters, searching for the bad guys.

Setting up immediate perimeters is important to contain areas, while searching for criminals. Generally, the only time perimeters are not set up is when law enforcement has good information that the suspects have left the area.

88 posted on 04/18/2007 11:07:23 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: dragnet2
That is not a good analogy. Bank robbers have one thing in mind after obtaining the loot. Get away fast.

Sure it is. In a domestic crime of passion, the shooter shoots and then either pops himself or runs away. Once he's achieved his objective, he usually doesn't stick around. Nothing in the first scene (unless he left a note there bitching about rich kids and trouble in school) would lead anyone to believe that he would take chains and lock up another building elsewhere on campus for a shootfest.
89 posted on 04/18/2007 11:12:45 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: aruanan
Sure it is. In a domestic crime of passion, the shooter shoots and then either pops himself or runs away

Actually that is incorrect. In many cases a disturbed spouse, or distraught disgruntled employee will go to his wife's work, or his bosses office, shooting everyone in site, in an attempt to find his supervisor, boss or wife. Or sometimes just anyone. There have been cases where a husband has gone to his wife's employer, shooting anyone he feels caused his grief, then drive two blocks away, shooting his wife's family etc.

There have been other cases, where an employee just snapped, started shooting everyone in the offices, and then went out to adjacent warehouses shooting others. Even taking innocent hostages.

90 posted on 04/18/2007 11:20:34 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly
I think that students and faculty should have been notified that a double murder had taken place, and that the killer had not been apprehended. Cancel classes for the day too.

And they should have closed off what they could, including that dorm and classroom buildings (since they wouldn't have been in use.) Keep people from getting too close.

91 posted on 04/18/2007 1:12:01 PM PDT by TBP
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To: aruanan; ketsu; dragnet2
You're failing to look at this in a realistic way. For instance, if someone had just reported a bank robbery and the police arrived on the scene after the bank robber had fled, the police not going to go to other banks on the same street to see if, perhaps, the bank robber was in one of them waiting to rob it. They would not close down all the other banks on that street. Neither would the bank that was robbed close down all the other branches of that bank in the near vicinity or in the city because they thought the robber would be likely to go into one of them. The robber would be unlikely to do this.

Banks vs. schools are apples and oranges, I think. A shooting on campus should probably be taken more seriously since school shootings historically are more deadly than hold-up's at banks.

For example, how many times in the past decade has a bank robber gone into a bank and shot 10, 20, 30 people to death? It just doesn't happen.

With schools, on the other hand, we have seen exactly that happen. And not just on Monday either. Historically speaking.

Hence the term "school massacre"; I've never seen the term "bank massacre."

Also, look at the differences in motives here.

A bank robber wants money, not the death of other people, so once he gets his money, he's happy and off and running, and then into hiding, because he wants to continue LIVING and eventually spend that money.

In other words, he's achieved what he sought out to achieve. He's satisfied after the robbery.

School shooters, on the other hand, don't want money and they don't want to live. They want everyone to die. This is why school shootings are tenfold more important in how they're handled and responded to.

92 posted on 04/18/2007 3:53:56 PM PDT by jdm
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To: TBP

It was reported by Mark Levin that the reason why not alert was given after the first shooting is that the police had a suspect in custody and they were interviewing him. The police thought they had their man. When the second spree started, they new the perp was still at large.


93 posted on 04/18/2007 3:56:44 PM PDT by LetsRok
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To: jdm
Banks vs. schools are apples and oranges

Clearly.

94 posted on 04/18/2007 3:58:30 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: RobbyS

Clever answer there...What about firemen should they wait for civilians to run in the building on fire because they don’t want to get burned.
They are given a badge, training, authority, bullet proof vests,machine guns,swat teams,armoured vehicles and your answer is let Joe civilian get the kids out.


95 posted on 04/19/2007 12:37:47 AM PDT by northernlightsII
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To: TBP
OK folks, give the cops a break.

One thing that is fairly consistent with these school shootings over the past several years is that they are confusing, brutal, deadly and there isn't a whole helluva lot we can do to stop them. If a psycho is determined to go into a crowded area and kill, he will.

The only thing that can stop him when he starts is somebody killing him with a HANDGUN, and that my friends is the solution.

Have armed personnel in the schools and armed students in the colleges.

96 posted on 04/19/2007 12:52:35 AM PDT by IDontLikeToPayTaxes
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To: RobbyS
The killer moved very quickly from room to room. The whole thing happened in a fair short period of time. I am aure that the cops will be glad to let you charge the building the next time it happens.

It took 23 minutes, by one estimate, for Cho to perform the killings in Norris. That's a long time for fat, fearful cops to stand behind trees protecting a "perimeter".

Here's a suggestion -- if you don't have the right stuff (and when you've been given the tools (bulletproof vests) and exclusive control of the weapons for self-defense) to risk your life when called upon, then give up your badge and get another job. Because you're unqualified.

97 posted on 04/19/2007 12:51:25 PM PDT by WL-law
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To: northernlightsII

I fully agree with your comments.


98 posted on 04/19/2007 12:52:26 PM PDT by WL-law
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To: TBP
I'm not apt to blame the police too quickly. Rather, I blame the political climate in which the school was designated a "gun-free zone". As a gun-free zone, it left the students and faculty totally defenseless against any significant agression.

Every citizen has the right to self-defense, but the left-wing weasels took away the means for the students to defend themselves. That is the problem.

99 posted on 04/19/2007 12:56:10 PM PDT by meyer (Bring back the Contract with America and you'll bring back the Republican majority.)
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To: RobbyS

Dear RobbyS,

“The mistake was forgetting that a university is not like a neighborhood but essentially one large building.”

Except in the case of Virginia Tech, it’s not one large building, but over a hundred large buildings. On over 4 square miles of land. With 26,000 students. Immediately adjacent to a town with all of 50 uniformed, armed police officers.

sitetest


100 posted on 04/19/2007 1:06:14 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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