BRING A GUN TO A KNIFE FIGHT? How universities train students, faculty for ‘active shooters’

Attacks like the one at OSU remain relatively rare across the nation. However, campus police chiefs and other officials all said authorities would be remiss if their universities did not continually train and educate faculty, staff and students on what to do — and what not to do — in an active shooter scenario. This week, UC will host to “shelter-in-place” workshops. Just last week, Xavier University Police Chief Joseph Milek trained about 30 staff members in an active shooter seminar.

“Who would have known that less than a week later, we would all be watching it live on TV,” Milek said. “The main goal is to get people thinking in advance. It can be little things, but they are important: How many exits are there to get out of your area? Where are they? We get complacent; but this isn’t rocket science.

“But you do have to put effort into preparing,” he said. “It just pays off.”

It seems unkind to mention that yesterday’s “shooter” was wielding a machete, but I will remind you that here in Colorado we take a somewhat different approach to campus safety.