How to Utilize Existing Strengths to Keep Your Campus Safe

Martin Speckmaier, Managing Member of Comprehensive School & Workplace Safety, LLC will be presenting at the Washington State K-20 School Safety Forum June 18-19, 2007. Held at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, “Developing Safety Plans that Promote Violence Prevention” is an opportunity for Washington State educators to hear from national and local leaders in school safety and violence prevention in our schools.

In his presentation, Speckmaier will discuss Threat Assessment Teams, an inter-disciplinary, multi-agency approach of working with at-risk youth in schools and the importance of connecting school district with community college and/or university threat assessment team processes. Speckmaier will focus on plausible solutions to common barriers and best practices for the utilizing a threat assessment process. He will address the types of threats educators must be prepared for and current issues facing students today. Topics will also include Washington State Threat Notification Law, FERPA, the Clery Act, Safe School Initiative, Tarasoff Warning, HIPAA, and LEU records.

Other presentations include:

“How to assess the risk of violence, terrorism threat, or a hostage situation on a school campus” Robert Martin, Gavin de Becker, Inc.

“Challenges for school safety on the national level” Bill Modzeleski, U.S. Dept. Education

“Technology solutions and their incorporation into school safety plans: Mapping, cell phones, and communication systems” Joe Madsen, Camteck, Inc.

“Grace under fire” Ellis Amdur, Crisis Intervention Specialist and Trainer

“Proven Strategies to prevent school weapons violence: an overview” Michael Dorn, Safe Havens International

“Developing a school-based threat assessment and threat management program” Dewey Cornell, Virginia Youth Violence Project

“Emergency operations planning for weapons issues, violence, and terrorist incidents” Michael Dorn, Safe Havens International

07:39 AM PDT on Tuesday, April 17, 2007
By CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News and Wire Reports
SEATTLE - In the wake of yesterday's horrific carnage at Virginia Tech, security patrols have been stepped up at University of Washington and Seattle University. Officials say they are seeking to reassure their students of their safety, but the shootings also raise questions on how secure our local campuses are.
At the University of Washington, all available campus officers and extra police officer were out on patrol. The Department has about 50 commissioned officers. And at Seattle University, officers from the Seattle Police Department were stationed outside the main entrance while the private university's 19-strong private, unarmed security force also stepped up campus patrols.
But officials at both schools say it's virtually impossible to secure any campus with so many buildings.  
Every American college campus will be asking several crucial questions over the coming days. 
"Is there an evacuation, or shelter in pace, if there is a lockdown? They need to understand what to do if there is an active shooter on the campus," said Martin Speckmaier, school safety consultant. 
UW officials say it does have a phone trail and e-mail system to lock down the campus.  It a system tested just two weeks ago when a man killed a 26-year-old employee at the College of Architecture. 
"It's a difficult challenge because universities and colleges pride themselves on an open environment," said Vicki Stormo, UW Police Chief.  
Local Virginia Tech alumni say they always felt safe at the Blacksburg campus, but those vulnerabilities were exposed Monday over the course of a few hours. 
"Blacksburg is such a sweet quite town, where this school is and it's a beautiful campus - to think of horrible things happening there," said Cindy Blacksburg, Virginia Tech alumni. 
"It's one of those places where people from big cities send their kids because it's that type of safe environment," said Marcus Jenkins, Virginia Tech alumni. 
Seattle University has been working a on a program to install plainclothes marshals in each campus building. Undoubtedly all our local campuses will be examining security policies in the days and weeks ahead. 
The Associated Press contributed to this report