KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - Western Michigan University has created new campus safety measures after students spoke out about not being notified during multiple shooting incidents.
University President John Dunn created the WMU Safety Communications Committee after the school received backlash for not sending a safety alert during a shooting spree in the Kalamazoo area on Feb. 20, in which six people were killed and two were injured. Students were also not notified of two other shooting incidents near campus, where one student was killed in December and another Thursday evening, MLive (https://bit.ly/2jcEKtt ) reported.
The Safety Communications Committee reviewed how to alert students of imminent danger that is off but near campus. It decided to add tools, including a university public safety Twitter account, commercial software to alert campus officers of “potentially important” issues outside their jurisdiction and a safety information website.
The safety measures were part of an overall examination of the university’s safety communication methods. The committee that recommended the measures included students, faculty and staff, as well as input from the Kalamazoo community.
“We wanted to see if there were new tools or processes that could be put in place, but we also realized that we cannot insulate campus community members from the threats they might face as they move freely around neighboring communities and through different police jurisdictions,” faculty member and committee chairman Thomas Edmonds said.
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Information from: Kalamazoo Gazette, https://www.mlive.com/kalamazoo
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