Recent school shootings cast a spotlight on universities’ security, and UF is no exception.
The University Police Department employs about 90 officers, said operations commander Capt. Bart Knowles, and that’s enough to handle day-to-day operations. But, like 46 percent of campus protection stakeholders who responded to a 2012 survey conducted by Campus Safety Magazine, UF does not necessarily have enough staff members to handle a major incident.
Knowles said that in the event of an emergency, like a shooting, UPD would call on the Gainesville Police Department and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.
“It takes a multiagency response to handle that situation,” he said.
But no shootings have occurred on UF’s campus in the last year, UPD spokesman Maj. Brad Barber wrote in an email.
In 2012, UPD had five weapons complaints involving a firearm: three counts of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit in a vehicle, one of exhibition/display of a firearm and one of possession of a firearm on which the manufacturer’s serial number was unlawfully altered or removed.
More than a quarter of survey respondents said their department was unprepared to respond to an active shooter or bomber.
UPD and other local law enforcement agencies began more in-depth training after the 1999 Columbine High School shooting that left 13 dead, Knowles said. UPD officers are trained to deal with an active shooter, evacuate victims and preserve the crime scene. UF’s building emergency coordinators can receive additional training.
UF also has a critical incident response team that can deal with shooters who may have more superior fire power than regular street officers, Knowles said. However, he said, these situations often end in the first responder stopping the threat or the shooter committing suicide.
If UF were to have an emergency, like the shooting that happened Tuesday at Lone Star College’s North Harris campus in Houston, Texas, alerts would go out immediately. At UF, University Relations would coordinate with UPD to get the message out, said UF emergency management coordinator Kenneth Allen.
About 75 percent of survey respondents said they felt their institutions’ administrators took safety and security seriously. UF’s leaders do, Allen said, and they’ve demonstrated it by investing in safety efforts like the UF Alert system.
“There’s no question that safety and security is top priority for UF’s administration,” he said.
Samantha Shavell and Julia Glum contributed to this story. Contact Kathryn Varn at kvarn@alligator.org.
