Members of the UCA Police Department attended the College and University Police and Investigation Conference held at George Mason University in Virginia July 19-24.
UCA Police Chief Larry James, Captains John Merguie, Justin Tapley, and Chris Bentley, and Lieutenants Rhonda Swindle, Preston Grumbles, and Jeremy Crabb presented a plenary session on active shooter preparation and response and a breakout session on active shooter exercises.
The panel discussed preparedness and response initiatives that the UCA Police Department had implemented since the Virginia Tech shooting. Topics included better tactical training for the officers, acquisition of tactical equipment, and educating the university community on what to do in the case of an active shooter.
The group shared the university’s response to a double homicide on campus in 2008 and information about additional safety measure on campus such as the mass notification system, outdoor alert system, and the purchase of an active shooter video that was put online for all UCA employees, staff, and students to view.
The two-hour presentation was extremely well received by the approximately 150 conference attendees who represented university, federal and state law enforcement agencies from across the United States.
Many of the attendees requested copies of the power-point presentation prepared for the plenary session so they could take back to their campuses best practices in preparing for and responding to active shooter incidents.
Officers also participated in a breakout session focusing on UCA’s full scale exercise “Active Shooter 2010” held in March 2010, which included all phases of the exercise and lessons learned.