April 16, 2007 was a grim day at Virginia Tech University. English senior Seung-Hui Cho, 23, launched two separate shooting attacks at the school. The first shooting occurred at 7:15 that morning, the second two hours later. Students were notified by e-mail of the ongoing attack two hours after the first shooting.
That day 32 members of the university died. Cho, who had a long history of depression and anxiety, committed suicide at the end of his rampage.
The delayed notification response of the Virginia Tech shooting, led to a lot of soul searching at campus police stations across the nation.
So what would happen at N.C. Central University if a shooter went on a rampage?
According to Sgt. McLaughlin quick communication is key. McLaughlin spent 28 years with Durham Police and is the University's training sergeant and emergency management coordinator.
NCCU campus police can instantly activate strategically-placed sirens and communicate specific details about any ongoing incident. Many students may have heard this system during recent tornado warnings.
NCCU is able to e-mail all students within minutes regarding any incident. As soon as an incident occurs, emergency communications/public affairs inputs information into the P.I.E.R emergency notification system.
In order to receive emergency information, students need to log into Banner, and then update their current mobile number under the profile option.
Sgt. McLaughlin also stated "Although this system has not been tested, any information that is uploaded will be sent out through text messages within ten minutes."
In the case of an active shooter, "first there would be a lockdown, and faculty and students would report to a safe area," said McLaughlin. "Then the lights would be turned off. It is also important to stay low; these precautions may spare peoples' lives."
Importantly, campus police receive training that is more focused on responding to incidents such as the Virginia Tech shooting. According to Officer Ben Coleman, Basic Law Enforcement Training today includes more active shooter training than in the past.
"Training is the forefront of law enforcement," said Coleman, who is in his first year at NCCU.
This training enables officers to more aggressively engage a shooter.
When asked what precautions should be taken in prevention of an active shooter, Brian Reynolds, a Business Management Junior stated "college campuses should up the security; metal detectors may be effective as well as the practice of a drill similar to a tornado drill."
"Pre-Columbine, the officers on scene had to wait for S.W.A.T or other reinforcements before taking action," said campus police officer Joseph Wadlington, "but post-Columbine the training was re-written to minimize loss of life."
At the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado 13 students and teachers died when two high school seniors entered the school equipped with shotguns and semi-automatic rifles.
"Two or more officers who are trained to shoot are more skilled with guns than an average active shooter," said Wadlington, who has been an officer at NCCU for five years.
"Knowing that experienced officers' work for the campus police makes me feel confident in my safety on the yard" said Ashleigh Hooper, mass communications junior.
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