First, I would like to commend the State News on their quick posting of information regarding the call of a person with a gun at Bessey Hall on Monday, February 24. Normally, I don’t think it appropriate for me to respond to specific incidents which occur on campus on a routine basis.
In this particular situation, I feel it is appropriate and important to address several points.
I applaud the individual who had the presence of mind to call 911 after observing an individual carrying a rifle into Bessey Hall. This type of involvement by citizens observing a potentially dangerous situation is important to providing a safer community. Her actions and description allowed for a rapid police response to this situation. After having had the opportunity to view the parade rifle observed in this incident, no reasonable person would have or should have drawn any conclusion other than a person armed with a rifle. This individual was later determined to be part of Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, or AFROTC, but was dressed in civilian attire.
Our police officers were dispatched and on scene within two minutes of the call and made entry into the building in slightly over two minutes. The emergency text message was actually launched in less than four minutes from the time of the dispatch and advised people to secure in place. Within eight minutes the individual with the gun had been located and within 10 minutes the all clear was given. The speed of response and dissemination of information was incredible by any standards that exist.
Current training for our police officers is for the first two officers on scene to make immediate entry to address the potential of an armed individual. All of our officers are issued and carry special equipment and continuously go through training to deploy to these situations as rapidly as possible. These are the current best practices in law enforcement.
Additionally, since August of 2013, MSU has trained more than 6,000 employees on active violence situations and conducted several full scale and table top exercises. We offer continuous training sessions and provide information in a headline banner on our website. MSU has one of the most robust timely alert systems available and is adding an additional system next month which will be one of only a handful of rapid notification systems in the country of its type. We currently launch these messages to about 68,000 devices.
While we continue to expand our capabilities, it is also essential that people be aware of what actions they can and should take in these situations and give some thought as to how they will react. In a community of over 65,000 people, it is impossible to reach everyone rapidly with precise and detailed information. We also have an ever-changing community, which provides even more complexities in the educational component of reacting to active violence situations.
MSU has and will continue to devote considerable resources to the emergency management of incidents. In this case, I am extremely proud of the student that called the police, of the professionalism of the responding police officers and the effectiveness of the timely warning system.
James Dunlap
Chief of Police, MSU Police Department
dunlap@police.msu.edu
