Sunday, April 22, 2007
Eight days ago, William Pomerleau would not have given a second glance to the student he passed Wednesday night as he walked home across the University of Maine campus in Orono.
The student was standing outside a dorm, repeatedly pressing the security button at the entrance.
Suddenly, Pomerleau said, he imagined the scene as something other than what was probably just an impatient student trying to rouse someone to open the door.
"I got nervous. What is this kid doing? I am not the kind of person who gets uptight and worried," said Pomerleau, a UMaine junior history major.
But since the bloody rampage that left 32 students and teachers dead at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., last Monday, and a bomb scare at his own campus two days later, the world seems a lot more sinister, Pomerleau said.
The shootings have put just about everybody connected with colleges and universities on edge. Students say they now find themselves scoping out exits in large lecture rooms and thinking about what they would do if they were trapped in a building with a shooter on the loose. Parents are flooding college administrative offices with questions about campus safety and emergency management plans.
College administrators across Maine say they are working to help allay the fears. They are reviewing their existing emergency protocols and looking at ways to beef up communication and response.
Bowdoin College in Brunswick is installing a high-tech computerized emergency notification system that can instantly alert students to threats through text messages to their cell phones.
The University of Southern Maine in Portland is beginning to use mass phone messaging.
The University of Maine is re-examining whether to continue to allow students to store weapons on campus.
University of New England security personnel are meeting weekly at the Biddeford campus to share information about unusual student behavior.
SECURITY PROCEDURES VARY
Campus security varies among the state's 33 degree-granting institutions. The University of Maine at Orono, the University of Maine at Farmington and the University of Southern Maine all have full-time police departments, with armed officers trained at the Maine State Police Academy.
Most campuses are guarded by a staff of unarmed security guards, who typically carry nightsticks, pepper spray and handcuffs, and are occasionally supplemented by an armed officer from the local police department.
Unarmed security departments work closely and often train with their local police departments, officials say. Many receive annual weeklong training courses at the New England Campus Security Officers Training Academy at Bates each summer.
"We are the backup guys. We want the police there," said Tom Carey, former chief of the FBI's domestic terrorism section and now head of security and campus safety at Bates.
Carey said campus security is a balancing act aimed at keeping the grounds safe without turning them into armed fortresses.
"Colleges need to be open places. It is a hallmark of what we are in America," he said.
Almost every campus security department in Maine participates in the Maine Campus Security Directors Association.
"We share information on a regular basis because we have many of the same issues," said Randall Nichols, a 27-year veteran of the Maine State Police who now heads up security at Bowdoin College.
Campus security officials said most campuses have been alert to possible threats and look nationwide and locally for lessons to be learned from security incidents.
In the past five years, there have been a number of incidents in Maine. In 2002, Bates student Morgan McDuffee was stabbed to death a few blocks from the Lewiston campus by Brandon Thongsavanh, now serving a 58-year sentence for murder.
In 2003, Dawn Rossignol, 21, of Medway, a senior at Colby College in Waterville, was abducted and slain by Edward Hackett, a parolee from Utah.
That same year, a massive two-day search failed to uncover the body of Ryan Matt, 20, a student on leave from the University of New England in Biddeford who wandered away from a party at a home in nearby Biddeford Pool. His body was found three months later, washed up on a nearby island.
For the past year, the University of Southern Maine has been the target of repeated telephone and e-mail bomb scares, resulting in a series of evacuations. The threats have not been solved.
Security officials say communication is key to keeping on top of incidents on campuses that can sprawl across hundreds of acres or sit elbow to elbow with urban neighborhoods.
ALERT SYSTEMS INSTALLED
Although Bowdoin has not recently experienced any of the bomb threats or incidents seen at other Maine campuses, security officials have just started to use a state-of-the-art notification system that sends emergency alerts to the entire community, including staff, faculty and students, by phone, e-mail and text message. Students can be notified on up to six different communication devices, and parents can be added to the system.
But campus security officials said one system is not enough, and they need a variety of communication modes to alert the campus to danger.
Craig Hutchinson, who oversees emergency response at the University of Southern Maine as vice president of student and university life, said the college is about to install instant phone messaging, similar to the mass telephone messages used in political campaigns.
At the University of New England, officials meet weekly to discuss all incidents reported to the security staff. Don Clark, director of safety and security, said the meetings help alert them to students who might be experiencing stress or other mental-health problems that could make them a threat to themselves or others.
"Sometimes patterns emerge. It has helped us on our smaller issues," said Clark.
Although colleges and universities such as USM and the University of Maine at Farmington have strict no-weapons policies on campus, others allow students to bring hunting rifles and other weapons to school, as long as they are registered immediately and stored with campus security or police. At Colby, only one or two students a year will bring a hunting rifle to school, said Peter Chenevert, head of security.
Up to a third of the 520 or so students at Unity College, which has a large number of conservation and wildlife enforcement majors, store their weapons on campus. The vault at UMaine Orono, which has an enrollment of nearly 12,000, holds a couple of dozen weapons, including rifles, martial arts weapons, knives and Celtic dancing swords.
"We have had zero gun incidents," said UMaine Police Chief Noel March.
But many colleges said this week that they are rethinking their policies allowing weapons to be stored on campus. UMaine President Robert Kennedy ordered a review in the coming weeks. Any changes will not take place until next year, said Joe Carr, UMaine spokesman.
Even though the bomb threat at UMaine on Wednesday turned out to be a hoax -- only a locker holding a clarinet treated with a cleaning solution attracted the notice of the bomb-sniffing dogs during a search of the buildings -- students say they still feel jittery in the wake of the Virginia Tech incident.
Eben Strout, a UMaine junior, said that is because he and his classmates grew up in an era of school shootings. Many of today's college students were just entering high school when two students shot 12 students and a teacher dead at Columbine High School eight years ago.
"People are a little tense. It stirs a lot of thoughts," said Strout, a marketing major from New Gloucester.
Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:
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previous page | next page1-10 of 21 comments:
Statistically, not likely to ever use a firearm to defend myself. To deny me the ability based on that is not only wrong, it's illogical. Maniacs and criminals don't follow laws and policies. The entire debate is illogical, as the end of it can only be full and complete confiscation. And then even that won't work, as evidenced by the Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan being gunned down outside his campaign headquarters. Apparently, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." is true.
I don't think everybody should be armed. We have a requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon if you wish to carry concealed in public. Open carry is legal in the state of Maine. Want to strap one on? Go for it... property owners may ask you to leave if you insist on carrying a firearm openly... won't know the difference if you carry concealed.
You must be 18 years old to purchase a long gun, rifle or shotgun, or ammunition for the same. For pistols you must be 21 years old for purchase of gun or ammunition.
In order to purchase a gun, you have to fill out a Form-4473. This is a BATF form that asks many questions about background, criminality, mental health, drug and alcohol abuse, and residency, as well as immigration status. Many of the questions are "yes" or "no" answers and any "yes" answer disqualifies the buyer and the deal is done right there.
When this has been completed with no "yes" answers, the dealer calls NICS and runs the form. Absent information in NICS that contradicts the form, the purchase is cleared or denied.
To lie on the form and try to buy a gun when prohibited is a felony. Any valid disqualification should result in felony charges for trying to buy a weapon. Doesn't happen, 3,000 out of 300,000 since 1994. Stupid.report abuse
Leon - keep your eye out for any survey that includes the statement "Guns are an important part of my life, and I make time for and support organizations that protect my right to keep and bear arms".
I've lived in Portland's Old Port for years and have never been in a situation where I felt the need to own a gun. In fact, I find the notion that the Old Port is a dangerous place necessitating gun ownership to be, well, silly.report abuse
"The only reason you, and people like you, are "safe" is because someone else protects you."
I agree with much of what he wrote, but I think the above statement is too limiting.
While the police, and armed services, both civilian and military, certainly stand as a response to crime and violence, and have an important place in society, they are only one part of the whole "safe" equation.
We would be a sad society indeed if the ONLY reason we are safe is that people are out there protecting us.
What makes us safer (safe is an illusion) is a society where there is mutual respect and appreciation, not one founded on fear. What makes us safer is that we collectively desire to build communities founded on mutual goals. What makes us safer is that all people can participate in those goals. What makes us safer is that there are ways for people of different beliefs and backgrounds to participate in the process, and feel enfranchised, even if they are in the minority (whether they are liberal or conservative). What makes us safer is a society where we look out for each other.
It is tragic that Cho was unreachable, but from my reading of the news, there were many who tried to reach out to him and help, and were concerned with his behavior. While the lack of success in this turned to tragedy, I hope the focus is not only in what went wrong, but also on what went right to do better and prevent the next tragedy from occurring.
Weapons have their place, in the hands of responsible private citizens and with those who have been placed in positions of authority, but being armed to the teeth, does not make us safe.
We would do well to think about this, as well as the role of guns, when we go about trying to make a safer society.
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I just hope you had the intelligence to make sure she was well trained in the use of her weapons, but I doubt it.report abuse
Over 80 million people own firearms in this country, self-defense being one of the reasons. I hunt, and I also enjoy shooting sports. Anybody interested in learning more about firearms can give a shout. I'd be happy to teach you whatever you want to know, after we learn safe gun handling skills and take them apart, clean them, and put them back together.
I am leaving in three weeks for Alaska for the summer, and returning home in September. We'll work something out.
NICS, National Instant Check System, should be opened for everyone who sells a firearm to run a check on a prospective gun buyer. report abuse
I have over ten years experience as a campus security officer. I left that to return to school for a masters of science degree in physical therapy. I am also a certified law enforcement officer, and work for a small department covering weekends and vacations.
The only reason you, and people like you, are "safe" is because someone else protects you. Consider well though. I've never seen where a law enforcement officer responded quickly enough to actually stop a murder in progress. They call CID, and secure the crime scene. The knock on doors and ask witnesses for statements.
So, if you feel that you're "safe" without a firearm, that's fine. That's your right, and I applaud you for exercising it. But don't presume to make that decision for me.
The idea that anyone might "sit around all day worrying that they might be a victim of a crime." is stupid and insulting. And people wonder why it's difficult to have a discussion about this.report abuse
laws don't keep God out of schools... God is everywhere and if you try to imagine why God didn't help the children in the places you listed...well, who knows if it's good or bad?
To all anti-gun laws advocates,
if we think that putting guns in the hands of everybody is the solution then why do we need any of the laws currently on the books? let's get rid of all of them and see where that takes us. after all we make laws everyday in this country and we all know how much that's done for us.report abuse
Are you people advocating arming students serious?
If your intelligent gunslinger idol of a President had signed the extension of the Brady Bill in 2004, the VaTech Massacre would either not have happened or been stopped instead of allowing a man with high capacity magazines (Than you very much Mr President) to continue to fire without pausereport abuse
At Christmas I gave my step-daughter an 800,000 volt stun baton with holster disguised as a small flashlight. It is banned in a number of states and cities across America including UPenn where she is a sophomore. I choose to ignore laws that are stupid enough to harm me and mine. I don't know if she carried it very often, if at all, after Christmas, but it is now a part of her clothing ensemble. I'd like her to have a nice 9mm with a pancake holster for her purse, a double-barreled .45 derringer for her pocket, and a 12 gauge pump for behind her bedroom door. It's against the rules of the campus and against the city and state laws.....but what do I care? VT should've had armed campus security and a strong ROTC-run armed student volunteers.
Warning sirens and mass-texting of students is a good warning system, and also a good way to mobilize those armed students and campus security to find and kill perpetrators. Without guns on campus, as we've just witnessed, tragedy awaits.
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Buy a "gun" if you think you'll ever change your "safe" habits!report abuse
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