Opinions on the Virginia Tech Shootings...?

Question

I just finished reading numerous article on the Virginia Tech shootings. I read this one article on how the various Universities across the country were coming up with ways to inform their students quicker about warnings and updates. This article also breifly mentioned security in Universities. I'm surprised that after what we've seen in this counrty and through out the would over the past 10 years wehavn't thpught of this sooner. (I'm talking about terrorist attacs and deadly storms...) It seems, that only the "victims" of such attacks are taking the proper precautions, but other institutions just don't bother. I have a 2 part question:
1. What are your thouhts on this?
2. What are your ideas about security measures and "notification systems" in Universities. I have y ideas but I as curious to know what other people thought.

Answer 1

Good question! I have thought about this many times the last couple of days. What possesses a reputable University not to evacuate the campus when there's a madman on the loose? The majority of the deaths came from the second shooting and could have been prevented if they had cancelled classes and gotten everyone off the campus. I am shocked and appalled after Columbine, 9-11, and other horrible incidents that have taken place haven't got all the Institutions a contigency plan. There's no excuse for the ignorance on this subject in regards to the President of that school, or any other school that doesn't have procedures set in place. And what really gets me, this kid that did the killings was a walking billboard for going postal (I hate to use that term, but it describes him to a T). He was freaky and wierd in classes all along, not talking to anyone, not answering to the teachers, in general just being oddly wierd. Why didn't anyone reach out to him? I just don't get how anyone, such as an advisor, professor, other students didn't question his wierd quirks. Not normal-like.

Why didn't they have cops all over campus after the first shooting? They were over at the dormitory where the first shootings were, but nowhere else?! You would thing they'd be searching high and low all over campus trying to find the guy. Absolutely ridiculous.

No, I'm not impressed with this situation at all. I feel badly for all the families and friends affected directly by this tragedy. However, I think the University could get sued over this for their negligence. How stupid, a friggen email two hours later. Who the hell reads a website or email while they are on their way to classes? Especially earlier in the morning. I think they were embarassed by the first shooting and didn't really want to broadcast it and hope to "Sweep it under the rug" and it would go away. Nope, guess what, now 31 more people had to die two hours later because everyone investigating the murders were already where the first ones took place, like he'd go back there. Just ridiculous. I'm going to stop, there's too much to say about this. You get my points. Thanks for the question, it felt good to vent.

Answer 2

First let me say that their are 15,000 students at that particular university, 4,000 in the dorm, and 11,000 who reside off campus.

Virginia Tech yesterday had a Press conference on Fox News, and one of the Authorities (there were 3), and I don't know his title said that they do have a security system, through email, and other technical means. However the time that the incidents occurred, was in the A.M. when the students were commuting. When they did arrive they felt that it was best to lock down when they did arrive. Truthfully at the time of the news conference they were still doing the investigation of the witnesses, and they did not have all the answers yet. That said,

I believe they should have metal detectors as they do at the airports, and I.D. cards (ones that can not be counterfeited), as they are planning to do with Passports in the United States.

Secondly when an incident does occur they should have a loud siren like they do in Israel, and other countries during war time alerting people to go into their shelters. That wll alert the ones who are commuting. For the ones that dorm they should have a PA system installed.

These are the only measures that I can think of, aside from strickter gun control laws.

Truth to tell, it is unfortunate but whatever measures are installed it seems that when a deranged person, or a terrotist is determined to harm people unfortunately they always find a way to work around any security system that is installed.

It is like a no win situation, but we have to do what we have to do no matter what. G-d should help those families, to be able to overcome the tragedy of losing a chlld.

Answer 3

My opinions are that the University should have been prepared for something like this. I hope something like this never happens again, but that is unlikely. So the schools need to be prepared. This isn't the first shooting in a university. In the 60's there was a terrible shooting killing i think 24 (i'm not sure about that though) students and faculty. That school in Texas is prepared for anything now. But i'll bet they are one of the few schools in the country who are prepared. But VT should have been prepared, cause this wasn't the first shooting. Earlier this year there was an escaped convict who shot a university security guard. That should have been an eye opener. In Israel (where I'm from), the Universities have very strict security. More so in other places in Israel. They have student ID's and not even IDF soldiers can get in with out special clearence. There is no reason to keep a campus open. Visitors can arrange to visit and it won't be a problem to get in. That's something that should be done. Not as a scare tactict. Sutudents will feel safer and so will there parents. It may even help prevent thefts. Another thing, they could do, to distribute information quicker. They could have a text message system. We had that in the IDF. All important updates and warnings, were sent to our phones. The first w=soldier who was kidnapped last summer. Well it didn't take 2 hours for me to find out and to know that I shouldn't walk around especially on uniform. A P.A. system is also a great idea. SMS's for the stuff, you don't want getting leaked. So many kids have cell phones or pagers, that if one person misses the message, a friend will notify them. Another good thing, would be to give all faculty pagers where emergency updates are sent directly to them with instructuons on what to tell the students and how they should respond. And a P.A. for like weather warnings. Like what they have in k-12. That's my opinion

Answer 4

As a former university professor of English in New York City,
I am sad to say there is no way to be 100% safe ,but
in this case it appears that the university authorities and the
mental health professionals involved have some serious
questions to answer, as do the police and the gun lobby.
I have had students who have had serious problems, but the
school administration usually listened more than they apparently did here, and I must say that the NYC police seem a lot more on the ball than their colleagues in Va.,
since we were evacuated whenever there was a hint of
a problem, especially after 9/11. Better safe than sorry!

However, regarding the killer himself, there are also complicated civil liberties issues regarding the rights of mental patients, not to mention the fact that mental health care in the US is very basic, to say the least. Generally,
one can only get a patient admitted to a hospital if that
person is clearly psychotic or paranoid. Given the easy
access to firearms in most states, this would seem to be
a recipe for disaster. However, those who support the
gun lobby, and who do not support increased care for the
mentally ill clearly don't see it that way. Perhaps someone
can ask them to explain why these tragedies are so common in the US, and so rare elsewhere. I have never
heard anyone say that there are more madmen in America
than in the rest of the world, so perhaps there is another answer, as suggested by BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE

Finally, to answer the original question, security systems are only as good as the people running them, not to mention the people trying to get by them, so an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure, as usual..

Answer 5

This is horribly sad..as the father of a beautiful 4 year old boy , I can only imagine my frustration and complete sadness if this were my child.

Hindsight is 20/20 and sadly, Police and administrators are going to be put on trial in the media and they are already are. I think that if anyone had the perfect solution then we would probably be the Dean or President of a college or the leader of a SWAT team. All these ideas are great but sadly it is too late. We can only hope that SOMETHING is learned from this tragedy.

Before we start jumping on bandwagons to have person X fired, suspended, arrested or otherwise (like a lot of us like to do under the influence of the media) remember that FIRST; the families of these 32 people have lost a son, daughter, cousin, brother, sister and you should support them in this time of mourning and SECOND; don't go calling for the heads of first responders or the powers that be because what would you do in a situation like that?

Have some compassion for everyone involved and hug your kids tight and remind them that you love them very much...

Answer 6

K...this kind of goes to Mr. Wizards answer....the reason that certain procedures stay "secret" as u say is....Do you really want someone planning an attack to know every move the officers are going to make?!?!?!?! I mean common sense here really people. Even with the loud speaker idea think about it....you are broadcasting to a person that is ready to shoot that you are on to him. Don't you think that could possibly pi$$ them off a little more where maybe they aren't so selective about there targets and just start shooting anything in site resulting in more tragedies. I dunno I just kinda of see this as a lose lose situation. No matter what precautions are set forward nothing is EVER good enough.

Answer 7

I agree with the answerer a little above- there needs to be a PA system throughout the campuses and in the buildings that can be used for emergencies. Especially on a campus of 15,000+, you'll need a better system than relying on just e-mail. Most of the kids at my school don't even check their email but maybe once every couple days, if that.

Answer 8

Frankly, I'm amazed this banal savage tragedy hasn't happened sooner--especially since Coloumbine. But now, it has....and we can expect ALL US college campuses to begin further visible security measures physically on campus grounds. Some of these new measures should be public knowledge; others remain "secret".

And you can believe this tragedy will call for even way higher tuition costs; it's an profitable opportunity, sad to say.

VT "notification system" was INEPT to say the least---a reflection of the campus President--who I assume WILL be asked to step down soon. I can see local, county and campus police all working together, "sweeping" all occupied buildings--advising people they can either evacuate or stay safe indoors.....stay tuned: this has just gotten interesting.

Answer 9

People need to be pragmatic about it: before setting up fancy email systems, just set up good old fashioned speakers accross schools/universities/offices etc... Nothing like a good loud siren and oral warning to get a message across quickly. Then they can send out email or text message confirmations with more info, or tell people to tune in their radios to a certain frequency, whatever they want. don't be fooled by new technology, there are times when the old stuff works far better.

Answer 10

my opinion is this stuff happens too often, that I have not yet been touched personally, that the media serve up these unfortunate acts like mommies with a handful of candy and will be on to something else next week and this will become another sad statistic with an asterisk for setting a record.