USU adds programs, training focused on emergency preparedness

Utah State University has never experienced a school shooting and the USU Department of Public Safety would like to keep it that way.

Still, in the wake of the high-profile massacre in Newtown, Conn. — and with four college campus shootings so far this year — university leaders have said there has been a recent increase in requests for training focused on such scenarios. 

Sgt. Travis Dunn has designed a training program that is available at the request of staff members and school clubs. The training is designed to teach people how to deal with a situation in which a person comes onto campus with a gun and begins shooting.

During one such training session, USU emergency management coordinator Judy Crockett said, participants acted out a scenario in which an angry student “shoots up” a dean's office office, with the violence spilling into the halls. Those involved were placed on various floors of the building to simulate a normal day on campus.

A Utah State police officer played the gunman. He began the training by firing more than 20 blank rounds.

“One of the participants placed on the third floor of the building said the gun shots sounded like a bunch of boards were dropped on the ground,” Crockett said. “She said she wouldn’t have thought anything of it if the shooting were real.”

The training helped give participants guidance about what to do if there was a shooter on campus, including how to protect themselves and others, and also how to potentially stop a shooter in action.  

Crockett said another preventative measure being taken is the creation of the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, at USU. CERT focuses on providing first response to emergencies at USU.

“Our most recent response was last week during the power outage,” Crockett said. “Several CERT members put on orange vests and searched through bathrooms and basement hallways making sure no one was struggling.”

CERT members recently started designing a hotline to provide parents and school leaders with updated information if a disaster were to occur.

Jessica Hinrichs, Grady Smith, Seth Merrill and Teresa Gutierrez contributed to this article.