The car-and-knife attack Monday on Ohio State’s campus has prompted moments of reflection across campuses and a look at safety measures.
The University of Akron and Kent State University have officers on duty 24/7. UA has 38 full-time police officers on campus and KSU has 31 full-time police officers. Both police departments train regularly on how to respond to a potential active shooter, with the goal of eliminating the threat as quickly as possible.
The last incident on Kent State’s campus that was treated as an active shooter was April 2, 2014. It turned out to be a love-triangle confrontation.
“Two women confronted their boyfriend after learning that he was cheating on them with each other. He pulled a gun out of his car with his finger on the trigger — and as he was pulling it out, he accidentally shot himself in the hand,” said Tricia Knoles, the community resource officer for Kent State police. “The women went off screaming. We got several calls that there was a man with a gun; they didn’t know if he shot someone, but there was blood everywhere and he took off running.”
She said a flash alert — the mass notification system for that area — was sent out right away warning about a possible active shooter.
Area law enforcement officers responded from about five departments.
The dispatcher found that the man with the gun had gone to a hospital.
“We don’t know what his intent was — if he was just pulling it out to scare the girls, or if he had intended on using it on the girls — but we didn’t take any chances,” she said. “It was an isolated incident.”
SWAT raid at UA
University of Akron Police Chief Jim Weber doesn’t like to talk about the shooting incident at the university on Nov. 10, 2002, when Thomas Tremko Jr., 47, barricaded himself in a restroom for 10 hours in the basement of the UA police department.
Police got a call about a suspicious person walking around the basement of the building with a machete sticking out of his backpack.
Officers struggled with Tremko and were able to get the backpack, which contained a .40-caliber handgun, ammunition and the machete.
Tremko was shot and killed by the Akron police SWAT team when he came out of the restroom, forced out by tear gas, wielding a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
“We tried tear gas, and negotiations, but the whole time of the standoff he never talked to police officers,” Weber said. “It was really a suicide by cop.”
The officer was cleared by the Summit County prosecutor as justifiable use of deadly force.
ALICE protocol
College campuses use the concept of ALICE, short for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. Trainers instruct how to be proactive in handling the threat of an aggressive intruder or active shooter event versus the traditional “lockdown only” approach.
The ALICE program is incorporated into the first-year learning experience curriculum for traditional incoming freshmen at both UA and KSU.
ALICE instructors also introduce the program to students in the Intro to Nursing program, first aid/CPR classes and those graduating from the education department, as well as recreation center staff and resident assistants.
One of the ALICE instructors at UA, Maj. Dale Gooding Jr., said the presentation offers different strategies but stresses that people should be aware of their environment.
“First and foremost be aware of your surroundings. Don’t be distracted by so many devices that we have today with cellphones and music in our ears — all that type of electronic gadgetry that tends to distract you,” Gooding said.
“People become creatures of habit and tend to do the same thing over and over. Become familiar with your surroundings and the buildings you’re in and give yourselves options. Learn where other exits are or where the stairwells are if you use the elevator. In an emergency situation, just having that plan B goes a long way in getting to safety.”
Both campuses also have emergency phones, emergency text messaging and a mass notification system that goes to every building.
Focus on preparedness
UA Police Chief Weber said students should be aware of all the safety tools on campus, including the Roo Express bus system, outdoor warning system, campus escort security as well as the off-campus safety patrol.
He said the university hired a company called Block by Block about four years ago to walk students home, to do house checks during school breaks and to be on the lookout for off-campus crimes like robberies and assaults.
“We want to make sure that everyone on campus utilizes everything available for their safety,” Weber said. “It takes everyone in the university family to be that extra set of eyes and ears. We are all here for the same reason — to make students successful and have a safe environment.”
Kent State police had a similar message.
“Our main priority is the safety and security of our faculty, staff and students here, so we do as much as we can,” Knoles said. “And if anyone sees something suspicious, don’t be afraid to give us a call. We’d rather them call and we check it out and it be nothing, than not calling and it turns into something.”
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.