In the wake of the school shooting that killed 17 high school students in Parkland, FL, safety is one again a main concern at schools across the country.
Less than a week after the deadly shooting, UW-Madison students, faculty and law enforcement are evaluating their own preparedness should a similar event strike their own campus.
According to Adam Boardman, a sergeant with the UW-Madison Police Department who has responded to previous campus safety threats, educating students and faculty on how to respond to these unpredictable circumstances is critical.
Boardman said no two safety threats are the same, and there is not a single response for each situation. He said educating people on various active shooter situations through trainings — which UWPD has offered for at least 5 years — is beneficial because it teaches people how they can keep themselves safe during these situations.
“We’ve been doing active shooter training for years now,” he said. “I think what we encounter is that there seems to be a larger and larger amount of staff and students that are familiar with actions they can take to keep themselves safe.”
If there is an active situation, Boardman said police are dispatched to a location based on information given in a call and gathered at the scene before determining whether additional assistance is needed.
He cited the incident in November, where a man with a gun was reported at the Law Library on Bascom, as a time when UWPD had to evaluate the risk and respond appropriately.
“If there is a report of a person with a gun, whether it’s that someone saw a firearm or there were active shots fired, we’re going to evaluate the situation,” said Boardman, who added the department often seeks additional help from the Madison Police Department in high risk situations.
According to Boardman, reducing the amount of harm done is a joint effort between the students and staff immediately involved in an active shooting situation, and the law enforcement that arrives shortly after.
“In many cases, we’re not there the second you’re calling, but the more people that are familiar with the things they can do to be safer and make it until police arrive, the better,” Boardman said.
As part of this effort towards coordination and creating a first line of defense, tour guides and information guides at the university are briefed on what they should do in the event of an active shooter.
Representatives from UWPD advise guides to take an active ‘fight or flight’ approach — which could include barricading doors or simply running away — in the event of a shooter situation, according to Sam Schwab, a UW-Madison student and campus information guide.
Schwab said the guides learned an active shooter situation is usually over within five minutes, and it is important for students to know how to handle themselves in these situations because authorities may not get to the scene in time.
“I work at the front desk at both the unions,” he said. “If a shooter situation were to happen, we would have to know [how to direct people].”
In addition to focusing on their role in the measures that should be taken during an active shooter situation, some students have also turned to anti gun-violence activism.
Keep Guns off the UW-Madison Campus, a group that opposes legislation that would allow students to carry guns on campuses, has directed its focus toward the Parkland shooting.
The group is currently planning a series of events aimed at drawing attention to the issue, according to Jordan Madden, a member of the group.
Madden said the group will host a candlelight vigil in honor of those who dies in Parkland. He said alumni of Stoneman Douglas High School will speak.
After the vigil and speakers, those in attendance will march “in silence towards the Capitol to demand policy change” surrounding gun laws, according to a Facebook event made for the vigil.
