On Dec. 1, 2013, Kari Hunt was stabbed 29 times by her husband in a Texas motel room while their three children were present. Kari’s nine-year-old daughter dialed 911 four times from the motel room phone but the calls never went through because the motel’s phone system required users to press “9” before dialing outside lines. Kari ultimately died that night, and coroners estimate she lived for 25-30 minutes after the attack. 

On Feb. 16, 2018, Kari's Law was signed into legislation, ensuring anyone can reach a 911 call center directly without an access code. Six weeks later, RAY BAUM's Act went into law, requiring enterprises to fashion their phone systems so each 911 call includes a dispatchable location.

Mark Fletcher, the key author and proponent of Kari's Law and vice president of public safety solutions for 911inform, spoke with Campus Safety about the laws' requirements and the high costs of non-compliance.

Fletcher also shares:

• More on the process of getting Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’s Act through the legislature with the Hunt family (01:35)
• Three instances where Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’s Act helped save lives (10:53)
• Who tracks whether an establishment is compliant and who within a school campus is typically involved in ensuring phone systems are compliant (13:52)

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Dr. James Corbin, who is student safety and security coordinator for Hamilton County Schools in Tennessee, was tasked with developing a safety department for his district. Not only did he do so from scratch, but he also grew his department to more than 60 employees in only three years. Additionally, almost all of his employees have stayed with the department… a remarkable feat considering the current tight labor market.

Corbin’s success in developing his district’s safety department is just one of the reasons why he’s been named one of this year’s Campus Safety K-12 Director of the Year finalists. 

Here’s Campus Safety Editor in Chief Robin Hattersley's interview with James Corbin as well as the timestamps of what was specifically covered in the interview: 

• Corbin’s first steps in developing the Hamilton County Schools safety department, and how he determined what was needed, who was needed, and how many officers/staff members were needed: 1:31
• What issues district stakeholders and the community specifically wanted the department to address and how he bridged the gap between the traditional law enforcement world and school safety world: 3:50
• How he was able to recruit and retain so many employees in such a tight labor market: 5:18
• What kind of training department armed officers receive: 6:34
• Advice to other districts who want to develop or expand their safety departments: 9:24

This presentation is brought to you by CampusSafetyMagazine.com (https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/)

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To combat the nationwide police shortage, Eric James, chief of police for the University of Nevada, Reno Police Department-Northern Command and a 2023 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist, secured funding to add at least one community service officer position to each campus (2:11).

These student officers almost exclusively spend their time on foot patrol and handle cold calls for service, leaving more time for peace officers to handle priority calls for service. Adding CSO jobs also creates a pipeline for hiring peace officers.

In this interview, James discusses this initiative, as well as:

• Benefits garnered from teaching a CrossFit class at the University Fitness Center (5:06)
• The process of acquiring a facility dog and the many ways she has helped the campus community (8:11)

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A fall 2019 survey of approximately 167,000 students at two- or four-year colleges found 39% had experienced food insecurity in the last 30 days, according to an annual survey conducted by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice.

On college campuses throughout the country, there are various departments and organizations working diligently to improve food access. At the University of Rhode Island, the police department is one of them.

In this interview, Michael Jagoda, URI's Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police, shares how hosting nearly two dozen food-focused community outreach events has helped campus police establish open lines of communication with students while also addressing the hardships of food insecurity.

Jagoda also discusses: 

• Outreach programs the department leads within the greater community (9:45)
• Unexpected benefits from the community outreach events (19:20)
• How his response to the Sandy Hook tragedy as a member of the Connecticut State Police has influenced his dedication to thorough active shooter preparedness (15:52)

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For years now, school districts have debated if school resource officers (SROs) make K-12 campuses safer or more dangerous, with some making the difficult decision to remove their police officers. The Lynwood (California) Unified School District (USD) was one such district, doing away with its SRO program before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doing so meant Lynwood USD needed to figure out other ways to protect its schools. The first step was to create a safety taskforce that was comprised of school board members, principals, parents, directors of student services, IT, other community members, city officials, and local law enforcement. (Next year, the task force will expand to include students.)

“In this committee, we’re addressing the incidents that we see in or around the school sites,” Garcia said. “We discuss the incidents and then bring to the table what we think will be beneficial for the whole district.”

This process resulted in Lynwood USD identifying several technologies and programs that would proactively address its school safety and security challenges without the involvement of SROs. An intercom access control system, anonymous reporting system, weapons detection that uses artificial intelligence, student internet monitoring, and visitor management were all installed. Garcia and his team also implemented active shooter training at all sites, collaborated with the city of Lynwood to implement Safe School Zones, and more.

The result of these improvements was a 70% decline in incidents at Lynwood USD. 

This and many other reasons are why Garcia has been named one of this year’s K-12 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalists.

Below are the questions and interview time stamps so you can watch/listen to the specific details of Garcia’s achievements and lessons learned: 

• Why Lynwood USD needed a new intercom access control system, anonymous reporting system, weapons detection technology, student internet monitoring system, and visitor management system and the problems these technologies addressed. 1:58 
• How Garcia was able to convince other district stakeholders (the school board, community, etc.) that these upgrades were needed. 5:45 
• How Garcia’s department and district paid for the upgrades. 7:48 
• The results of Lynwood USD’s implementation/installation of these systems. 8:49 
• Advice Garcia gives to other districts looking to upgrade their security and safety. 10:21 

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In 2022, Howard University received eight bomb threats based on racial motivations. As chief of police and executive director of the school’s Department of Public Safety, Marcus Lyles was tasked with responding to these threats as well as addressing concerns and fears expressed by the Howard community.

In this interview, Lyles shares how the threats impacted Howard students and staff, as well as how his team responded to the threats and offered reassurance to the campus community regarding their safety (2:20).

Lyles also discusses:

• How his team kept parents informed of the university's response to the bomb threats (9:24)
• Recommendations for schools that may experience similar threats in the future (12:10)

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After three people were tragically killed and five others were wounded in a February shooting at Michigan State University, conversations started swirling about how to best protect an open campus. While there are leading practices for improving safety on an open campus, each campus has its own unique challenges and therefore its own unique solutions.

Vanguard University, located in Costa Mesa, Calif., is an example of an open campus with security solutions tailored to its specific environment. 

In this interview, Kenton Ferrin, Vanguard's director of campus safety and a 2023 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist, speaks to ways his campus has made security changes after evaluating its top risks, as well as:

• How his team developed safe rooms throughout campus where students or employees can quickly secure themselves during an emergency (5:55)
• The advantage of hiring retired police officers and tips for campuses considering doing so (11:50)
• Unique ways the campus safety team has been able to connect with the student population (15:25)

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Outdoor public address systems are critical components of any school’s emergency notification system. Emergency messages must reach everyone on campus, including those students, faculty, and staff members who are outside on the football field, baseball diamond, picnic areas, playgrounds, and other outdoor areas. Unfortunately, PA speakers often aren’t installed in remote outdoor locations on campus. If they are installed, the announcements might not be loud enough or intelligible. The same issues often happen indoors.

Such was the challenge at the UMS-Wright Preparatory School located in Mobile, Alabama. UMS-Wright Director of Campus Safety Garrett Humphrey and his team updated the PA system to not only address the old system’s coverage issues but to also make the school’s teachers less reliant on their cell phones for push notifications. He and his team went through a lengthy and thorough process to upgrade UMS-Wright’s PA system, including conducting an inventory and testing what they already had, determining the exact areas that had coverage problems. 

Here are the timestamps of what was specifically covered in the interview:

• The specific challenges UMS-Wright experienced with its PA system: 2:20 
• How Humphrey addressed this issue; what was installed; how he determined what was needed; and the overall process: 5:32 
• How the solution that was chosen achieved cost savings: 9:05 
• Humphrey’s advice to other school safety and security professionals about public address systems and notifying students, faculty, and staff who are outdoors during an emergency: 11:25 
• What Humphrey would do differently if he had to do it all over again: 13:58

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Partnerships have long proven successful in improving safety within a community. Historically, these partnerships have been between various first responder groups. As the social divide within our country continues to widen, partnerships between first responders and social workers have proven extremely successful.

This rings true for the University of Maryland Baltimore Police Department (UMBPD) since it began a partnership with the university’s School of Social Work (UMSSW) to help the Baltimore community at large.

In this interview, UMBPD Chief Thomas Leone shares how the partnership works (2:16) and its impressive outcomes for the community (6:13).

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At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and UT Health Science Center, all incidents are shared with and monitored by the police department. Threats are also shared with other campus leaders to ensure everyone -- at all times -- has a clear picture of the campus threat landscape.

In this interview, Chief William Adcox shares why information sharing is essential to mitigating healthcare violence and why his police department does not have an arrest model (12:47).

Adcox also shares how switching to a Combined Protection Model (1:46) and creating a Shared Purpose Council (6:06) resulted in improved performance and outcomes for both the organizations he serves and the surrounding community.

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