By Greg Horner, Promotions Manager.
With the recent shooting that occurred in Oregon, the question of safety on college campuses has once again entered the national dialogue. After a lone shooter took the lives of 10 people and injured nine others at Umpqua Community College, some are questioning security at Delta.
“You feel safe until something like this happens and then you start to reflect on ‘what does it mean to be safe?’ ” said Kim Klein, assistant professor of political science. “I think the first thing we start to think about is security.”
Students such as Michael Heida say that shootings like the one in Oregon don’t increase the likelihood of it happening here and that public safety handles their job well.
“They definitely have a lot of security guards walking around and I always see an officer every time I’m coming to school or leaving,” said Heida. “I think they do a pretty good job of watching out for negative things and patrolling the area.”
Robert Battinkoff, Delta’s new police chief, has received training from the National Tactical Officers Association on how to respond to an active shooter scenario. He’s also worked in the past as an officer with the Flint Township Police, where he focused on how to respond to a mass shooting.
“I actually have quite a bit of experience in that area,” said Battinkoff. “I taught active shooter response to probably 300-400 officers when I was in Genesee County. We then branched into a program where we met with school systems and talked directly with staff on how to respond and what to expect.”
Battinkoff works with Delta’s emergency response committee, a group of 13 people who write the school’s emergency manual that details how to deal with threats ranging from fires to medical crises to active shooters. The committee is in the process of updating the emergency manual and Battinkoff rewrote the college’s active shooter response policies to bring them more in line with what’re considered the best by national law enforcement agencies.
“Initially we came up with [a] lockdown [scenario] and that was the one-step approach to an active shooter and it just doesn’t work very well in every instance,” said Battinkoff. “So we make sure that people understand that there’s options and we call it run, hide or fight.”
According to Battinkoff, if a shooter knows where you are, the best option would be to run as fast as possible — especially if you know there’s a safe route to escape. If you’re unclear where a shooting is taking place, the best option is to lock yourself in, barricade the door and hide.
Battinkoff says the absolute last resort is to fight. “You have to empower people to be able to defend themselves. In so many of these incidents, we sometimes condition people to be docile. When you have a hostile aggressor right there, that doesn’t work very well.”
The main campus’ public safety utilizes seven armed active-duty officers and six unarmed student officers. Each satellite location has a campus safety officer, armed with pepper spray, whose primary duty is to maintain order and report incidents.The emergency response committee is looking at the school’s policies in regards to Delta’s satellite campuses.
“The primary responsibility for safety at those areas is with the local police departments, so we coordinate with Buena Vista, Midland and Bay City to make sure they keep a presence there,” said Battinkoff. “The sworn officers do go to the satellite campuses and I want to try to start incorporating a more random patrol approach so that occasionally officers will go out there.”
Carrie Christie is a mother of a Delta student and says that after shootings like the one in Oregon, she’s concerned for her son’s safety.
“I think they should have more police patrolling the school. It’s not that it’s Delta specifically — it’s just so random you don’t know where it’s going to hit.”
Maureen Donegan assistant professor of psychology, says that she still feels safe on Delta’s campus. She’s also received training at another institution on how to deal with an active shooter situation through an online course.
“Public Safety officers have visited our division meetings and offered us information about what to do if there was an active shooter on campus,” said Donegan. “So I feel like I have received some education and training, but definitely could benefit from more.”
Donegan says it’s used mostly for fire drills and when the college campus has to close. “But it was initially created in response, unfortunately, to mass shootings at other colleges and universities.”
If you’re concerned that a student is at urgent risk of hurting themselves or others, the best course of action is to contact public safety or the counseling department.
“The important thing is to tell somebody in authority so they can get the process started,” says Battinkoff.
Alyssia Rosebrugh, who studies social work, had an experience last year where a student’s behavior made her concerned. Rosebrugh reported it to public safety and had a positive reaction.
“I was really impressed,” said Rosebrugh. “Even after I talked to public safety and the issue was taken care of I had an email from a couple different faculty here making sure that I felt okay in the class.”
The college offers counseling services by appointment or walk-in to deal with mental health issues. The counseling and advising center has six trained personnel counselors on hand. If you’re concerned about a friend, fellow student or yourself someone will talk to you as soon as possible, at no cost.
“We have had faculty members, family members and friends come to us and say that they’re concerned about a student,” said Jessica Miller, a counselor. “We automatically reach out to that student through phone, email and we’ve gone to classrooms saying that we’re concerned about your safety.”
