Director of Public Safety David Miles
As I started to write my article, I was once again startled to read about a tragic shooting that occurred in the world. Innocent lives were again taken by gunmen. While the exact motive of this shooting is still unknown, in many active shooter incidents it is because the gunmen either has a prejudice or some type of mental illness.
Active shooter incidents or reports of gunman have become far too common in our society. These continuing incidents over the years demonstrate that it can happen anywhere, and in many cases innocent people are the victims. The answers and reasons for these events may never be fully known.
It seems as if no area is immune from an active shooter situation. Over the past few years, there have been shootings at malls, churches, airports, movie theaters, restaurants and schools. Unfortunately, it is going on 10 years since the senseless tragedy at Virginia Tech where 32 individuals lost their lives and we are still having these types of incidents on a much too frequent and alarming rate.
While these incidents are hard to predict and in many cases almost impossible to prevent, we want you to be aware of what you can do to keep yourself safe.
A number of years ago, a presentation was offered on Active shooters and the presenters were members of the Teaneck Police Department; Dr. Kenny, Professor of Criminal Justice and I.
The presentation gave valuable information which could help you if you ever find yourself in that type of situation, but also information on pre- incident indicators of violence.
The PowerPoint presentation is available on the University website.
In addition to the Powerpoint presentation, we also showed a six-minute video which is titled Run, Hide, Fight. The video can be obtained on YouTube. In this day and age and with Active Shooter incidents continuing, I urge you to view the video.
It is so important that you not only know what to do if you are ever in an active shooter situation, but also the type of behavior that should be reported. Reporting is key and you may never know if the information you report may stop one of these incidents from occurring.
While our hope is that no one is ever involved in any active shooter situation, I recommend that everyone take the time to view both the PowerPoint presentation and the video This is information that can greatly assist you and hopefully keep you safe.
As always, if you have any concerns about Public Safety or crime prevention, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please remember to like the Department of Public Safety on Facebook at FDU Metro Department of Public Safety or follow us on Twitter @FDUMetroPS.
