Area law enforcement trained to handle similar situations
(Published Tuesday, April 17, 2007 11:32:37 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Carla McCann Gazette staff
WHITEWATER-Law enforcement in Whitewater say they've trained in UW-Whitewater dormitories to respond to an "active shooter" like the man who gunned down 32 people at Virginia Tech on Monday.
"It is a horrible situation and one that we hope we'll never have to deal with," UW-Whitewater Police Chief Matthew Kiederlen said.
But if a shooting happens on his campus, officers are prepared, Kiederlen said.
Since the Columbine High School massacre near Littleton, Colo., eight years ago, law enforcement emergency response tactics have changed, said city of Whitewater Police Chief James Coan.
In the past, local police waited until SWAT teams mobilized and arrived at scenes.
"Today, our officers are trained to immediately engage an active shooter," Coan said. "We would localize the shooter and immediately go in and engage him."
Sgt. Craig Klementz of the Janesville Police Department echoed Coan's comments.
Before the Columbine killings, patrol officers, typically the first cops at a shooting, would contain the scene and wait for a SWAT team to take over, said Klementz, who has been a member of the Janesville Police SWAT team since its inception in 1998.
Now, patrol officers are trained to enter a building where someone is shooting as quickly as possible, he said.
Klementz said he heard the Virginia Tech shooter had chained the door shut.
"You have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to breach a door, (go through) a window, another door, whatever it takes to gain access," Klementz said.
In January, Whitewater city and campus police trained together for rapid response in a campus dorm, Coan said.
"Whether an incident happens in a public school or on the UW-Whitewater campus, the city and campus police are similarly trained to provide mutual support," Coan said.
Although Coan is hesitant to second-guess police response to the Virginia Tech shooting, he wonders why the gunman wasn't immediately found and stopped.
"We immediately would have gone in and engaged the shooter," Coan said. "That's what we are trained to do in similar situations.
"Whitewater also is a college town. What happened at Virginia Tech could happen anywhere. It demonstrates how law enforcement agencies need to be equipped and trained to deal with similar situations," Coan said.
Beloit College officials said they're ready, too.
Campus leaders conducted an emergency drill in cooperation with Rock County Emergency Management in 2001, only weeks before the 9/11 attacks. Another full-scale emergency drill is planned for the Beloit campus in October in cooperation with Rock County Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
"It will be multijurisdictional, involving Illinois jurisdictions from Winnebago County as well as all emergency services through Rock County with observers from the state level," said Ron Nief, director of public affairs at Beloit College.
On the Virginia Tech campus, a lone gunman killed 32 people Monday morning in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. History.
The killings took place in two attacks, two hours and a half-mile apart before university officials knew what was going on and warned students.
At the end of the siege, the gunman committed suicide.
Virginia Tech President Charles Steger was facing difficult questions about the university's handling of the emergency and whether it did enough to warn students and protect them after the first burst of gunfire.
Whitewater Chief Kiederlen said he wouldn't second-guess another department's reaction.
"It's impossible for me to comment on their reaction," Kiederlen said. "Everything is so contingent on the situation. There are so many variables."
One constant, however, is that students can help protect the campus by alerting police to someone they believe may be a threat.
"All they need to do is let someone know that something isn't right," Kiederlen said. "Often, people say after the fact that they thought something weird was going on. But then they thought they were being silly."
UW-Whitewater is installing electronic locks for controlled access, Kiederlen said.
But because he has been on the job for about only two weeks after moving here from Illinois, Kiederlen still is learning what other safeguards are in place on campus, he said.
"I still need to delve into policies and see what is in place," Kiederlen said.
