Two residence rooms at Western went up in flames last September – and campus police did nothing to stop it.
Campus Police hold yearly mock emergency scenarios with the help of the Department of Communications and Public Affairs, campus emergency response teams, and London police and fire representatives to complete these exercises. The last emergency surrounded a mock chemical spill.
In fact, they started the blaze.
At the top of University Hill they built two mock bedrooms, complete with wall posters, computers and beds. In front of two groups of 2,500 students, they set each room on fire – all to prove a perilous point.
“(We wanted) to show students how fast fire travels. Inside, anyone would have been dead in 30 seconds,” says Elgin Austen, director of the Campus Community Police Service.
The demonstration, called a live burn, is just one of the university’s mock emergency exercises it runs every year.
When a real fire raged through a McMaster University residence just one month after last year’s mock fire at Western, Austen says he felt encouraged to continue teaching students about such dangers.
“It reminded us that we’re doing the right thing,” he says. “Don’t mess around with fire. There’s no time; evacuate immediately.”
Campus police enlists the help of the Department of Communications and Public Affairs, campus emergency response teams and the London Police Service to complete these exercises.
This way, authorities aim to be prepared for any situation on campus, from explosions and tornados, to behavioural issues such as threatening a person’s safety. Already, a mock hostage situation, shooting incident and chemical spill have been staged.
One of the largest mock emergency exercises at Western took place just more than a year ago. Meant to simulate the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, where a troubled student in Blacksburg, VA killed 32 people and wounded many others, the exercise involved 200 students, authorities and community volunteers.
“We find out how well our own systems work and how fast we can notify people,” Austen says.
Western is one of the few universities in Ontario to have a campus police service. With a staff of 30, which includes 17 officers, the campus police patrols 24 hours a day by foot, bicycle or car.
For the past several years, it has received an A+ rating for campus safety in the Globe and Mail annual university survey.
It’s a title Western’s campus police try to maintain at all times, and especially when large safety events happen at universities across Canada.
“If there is a major incident, when you see those types of things in the media, you see a failure,” Austen says. “(We can look) at how big the failure was (and) prevent the things from happening.”
Earlier this year, Western’s campus police became the first Canadian force to receive accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), who examined all aspects of the campus police’s policy and procedures, management, operations and support services.
“Standards are the foundation of policing,” says Austen. “International accreditation ensures a high quality of work and that campus policing expectations are met. Being first in Canada acknowledges the quality of our personnel and Western’s leadership.”
IACLEA advances public safety for educational institutions and includes more than 1,100 colleges and universities in 20 countries, along with 2,000 individual memberships held by campus law enforcement staff, criminal justice faculty members and municipal chiefs of police.
While 17 U.S. colleges and universities have IACLEA accreditation, Western is the first in Canada.
A Safe Campus Community website (https://communications.uwo.ca/safe_campus) for Western students and faculty was set up last year as an online venue where people can go to learn more about staying safe on and off university grounds.
It includes information on different types of safety, such as emotional and cyber, and includes updates on safety news, including conferences on workplace violence.
Along with these efforts, campus police and emergency response teams make regular presentations to students and faculty members about the importance of personal safety, including abuse and harassment. Last year, they spoke to about 4,000 staff.
“It seems to be making a difference,” Austen sys, adding there were less personal safety concerns in 2008 than other years.
Campus police also designate five special constables as Residence Liaison Officers for Western’s residences. They deliver safety and awareness initiatives to students and staff and patrol residence hallways, when necessary.
Faculty receives safety information at the presentations, including a special colour-coded chart created to show different levels of risk in a range of violence.
The chart illustrates how to identify existing or potential violence based on types of observable behaviour, how to respond and who to contact for help. The chart is available at uwo.ca/police/safecampus.htm.
Some safety presentations made to groups at Western include skits with actors to depict scenarios of unacceptable behaviour to show the audience how to deal with it. There are also leadership conferences and an interactive online training course offered.
Campus police also have about 50 different interactive safety and security programs aimed to keep the campus safe.
One important program is Foot Patrol, which involves hundreds of volunteers, available from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. throughout the school year to walk students, faculty and staff to their destinations, or wait with them for their rides. They work in a buddy system with one male and one female member and carry radios so that they can communicate with campus police.
Other services include Rape Aggression Defense Training, a 12-hour training course available to students, staff and faculty; bicycle security lockers; a graffiti eradication program; and a laptop-engraving program to help students locate their computers if lost or stolen.
For more information on any services offered by campus police, call 519-661-3300 or visit: uwo.ca/police. If personal safety is at risk, you can immediately call campus police by dialing 911 from any campus phone.