If a gunman was at large in Fanshawe College would you know what to do?
The Manager of the Emergency Management Office says there is 3 steps of what to do if someone is armed with a weapon in the school.
“Number 1 is run. Get as far away from the situation as fast as you can. Secondly, determine if you can’t get away, what is your best course of action. Can you find a place to hide, if you can make yourself as invisible as possible, it is less likely you’ll be targeted. Finally, if you are confronted with the threat in front of you, your primary response is to fight back.”
For those who don’t know, Fanshawe is a very large campus. There are over 21 thousand full-time students enrolled at the college.
Earle says they have systems in place to let students know there is someone at large.
“We can make a voice broadcast. As well we can take over some of the video display terminals in buildings to let people know what is going on.”
However there a technical issue at the beginning which makes their job difficult.
“The problem is there is always a lag between the beginning of the incident with the time we have with situational awareness and the ability to share the info to people.. we seldomly know what is going on in the early stages.”
Earle adds that they get a lot of help from people outside of the school to know someone is armed with a weapon at the school.
“Typically it’s a report from someone in the community, it will either be a phone message with someone on scene or a 9-1-1 call.”
What are your thoughts? Should schools beef up security to prevent tragic events?
