This summer, Harding Public Safety achieved its goal of having an armed officer on campus 24/7, according to Director of Public Safety Craig Russell.
Russell said Public Safety made the decision to add an armed component to campus security five years ago after the Virginia Tech shooting when a student entered a university classroom and killed 27 students and five faculty members.
According to Russell, acquiring enough armed officials for every shift has been a gradual process.
“We very intentionally expanded our armed coverage slowly and carefully,” Russell said. “And that was basically a process that took five years to happen. It was important to me that we hired the very best people, people that we knew would kind of be responsive to the Harding culture and would also have the skill set, abilities and everything else that was needed to carry a firearm as part of their job.”
Many of these people, Russell said, have police, military or long time security experience.
Russell said he and his staff pay close attention to national incidents so that Public Safety can gather new ways to prevent and respond to possible dangers on Harding’s campus.
“All of the shootings that have gone on we have looked at to see if there are any lessons that can be learned,” Russell said. “The theater shooting in Aurora, Col., yes we looked at that. We look at what is happening in these situations, the person that is committing these crimes, what did they do and what are the best ways to respond to those situations.”
Also new this year is the Campus Security Authority Training program, which was designed by Public Safety for the group of campus officials who are required by law to report crimes witnessed on campus. Russell said this group of people includes resident assistants, resident life coordinators and coaches.
Senior RA Alannah Gonda took the training course this summer. She said she believes the goal of the training is to remind RA’s of their duty to keep students safe by reporting dangerous situations.
“It basically described our duties as a resident assistant and how we need to be ready to tell public safety when we even have suspicion of anything dangerous,” Gonda said. “It encourages us to be aware of what exactly is going on around campus and to stay in line with what Harding expects of their faculty and students.”
According to Russell, many other improvements have been made to campus security in the past five years.
Public Safety is currently working on installing a radio system that will allow campus security to directly communicate with Searcy police. More than 100 video surveillance cameras monitor campus, and, last Christmas break, all dorms still using the security system, which required students to swipe their ID cards were switched over to a proxy system that allows Public Safety to monitor exactly who enters which building and at what time.
