With all of the security, safety, and climate change challenges facing our nation today, it behooves schools, institutions of higher education, and healthcare facilities, as well as many other types of organizations to review and update their approaches to public safety, emergency management, energy savings, and sustainability. It’s even better if they can address all of these challenges with one solution.

One highly effective way to address these concerns is security glazing installed on windows and other types of glass openings. To find out more about the benefits of security glazing, I interviewed National Glazing Solutions CEO James Beale. 

In our interview, James discussed:

• Why campuses need to update their approaches to safety and security: 1:35
• Results from a survey conducted by Campus Safety and NGS on the current state of safety and security of windows and other glass openings on campuses: 3:12
• How security glazing can prevent or mitigate:
  • Damage from natural disasters, such as wildfires and hurricanes: 4:53
  • Bomb blasts, active shooters, and damage from rioters and civil unrest: 7:41
  • Damage from severe weather, seismic events, explosions from local refineries and other industries: 11:52

James also discussed how window glazing can help you achieve energy savings, reducing your campus’ carbon footprint (16:47), reduce maintenance costs (23:12) and much more.

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Hospital violent crime increased by 47% from 2020 to 2021. One way to combat violence in hospitals is through de-escalation training, which has proven to protect employees and save hospitals money due to less nurse turnover.

The Crisis Prevention Institute is one organization that provides this type of training, so we spoke to its President, Susan Driscoll, about recognizing early signs of anxiety among patients or visitors to try and prevent a situation from turning into a crisis.

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• How the pandemic has affected hospital workplace violence
• The impacts of implementing de-escalation training
• The importance of adopting a unified approach to de-escalation among all employees

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In a 2020 CDC survey, 69.2% of adults ages 18-24 reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, or both, and nearly a quarter said they had seriously considered suicide.

To diver deeper into these concerning statistics, we spoke to Corrine Williams, University of Kentucky’s (UK) acting associate vice president of student wellbeing, about the stresses that come with the transition to college, how that has been compounded by the pandemic, and what UK is doing to help.

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• Other changes she has noticed in student mental health
• How mental health issues have been manifesting among students
• Adjustments the university has made and additional programs that have been put in place to address student mental health needs
• Challenges and barriers the school has faced in supporting students
• Ways the university is helping staff recognize mental health struggles among students

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While still grappling with the effects of the pandemic, in February 2021, the state of Texas was immobilized by historic Winter Storm Uri. Seven months later, Hurricane Nicholas made landfall.

Although the University of Houston was impacted by these storms, the hard work put into continuity of operations planning by Ginger Walker, director of emergency management, kept impacts at a minimum, allowing the campus to quickly resume operations.

In this interview, Walker discusses how Winter Storm Uri impacted campus operations (2:15) as well as how her continuity of operations planning efforts have been recognized by the State Office of Risk Management (35:21).

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• Findings from the Winter Storm Uri after-action report (15:04)
• How new policies and procedures put in place following Uri helped during Hurricane Nicholas (26:34)

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Video surveillance serves many purposes, including entrance/exit monitoring and visitor verification. While many agree security cameras play a big role in keeping campuses safe, the available options can be overwhelming.

We spoke with Allen Cain, director of safety and security at Gilbert Public Schools and a 2022 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist, about his journey in selecting a new district-wide video surveillance system, including establishing a team to help review vendor applicants who responded to a request for proposal (RFP) (12:00), and deciding which capabilities were a must-have for the new system (12:59).

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• Other changes he recognized his district needed to be regarding school safety (1:37)
• How he partnered with the operations department to construct secure entryways (5:09)
• Advice he has for campuses looking to undertake a similar video surveillance project (18:26)

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Shortly after becoming Appalachian State's director of public safety and chief of police, Andy Stephenson established the school's highly-respected Police Officer Development Program.

The 2-year program exceeds North Carolina's minimum training standards by hundreds of hours and students graduate as fully sworn police officers. Stephenson goes in-depth on the structure of the program and the various types of training cadets undergo (2:07).

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• How the school is able to fund the program and provide participants with hourly wages (12:19)
• Challenges he faced in establishing the program (14:49)
• The diversity among program participants (17:02)

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A community servant is someone who cares about the needs of others rather than the desire to have power. For Douglas Roberts, that's why he got into policing.

Roberts, police chief at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) and a 2022 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist, spoke to us about ways he works to ensure the public has confidence in his police department (1:51), urging his officers to engage with students constantly, not only when there is an issue (10:29).

Roberts also discussed the importance of his department maintaining relevance in surrounding communities, especially among local first responders (20:42).

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• How technology has acted as a force multiplier in building confidence in the campus police department (12:08)
• How Roberts' Secret Service background has helped him succeed in his current role (27:19)

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If you’re in a private organization that has a non-sworn security department, getting your hands on the criminal intelligence that other organizations in your region may have can be challenging. Fortunately, there are fusion centers all around the country that can help all kinds of private organizations get the information they need to keep their campuses safe.

For example, Rick Franks, who is security manager for the Jewish Association on Aging serves as a private sector fusion liaison officer to the Western Pennsylvania and Region 13 Information Process and Criminal Intelligence Center (PaCIC).

In this interview, he addresses the following topics:

• What exactly is the Western Pennsylvania and Region 13 information processing and Criminal Intelligence center: 1:53
• Why his organization works with its local fusion center: 3:05
• His role as the fusion liaison officer for the Jewish Association on Aging: 4:45 
• The results of his participation in PaCIC: 10:35
• Advice for other healthcare facilities wanting to get involved in something like the PaCIC or the equivalent in their areas: 7:31

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After three fellow officers were killed in the span of 30 days, one at the hands of a 17-year-old, St. Petersburg Police Officer Luke Williams knew something needed to be done to both save officers and set youth up for success.

We spoke with Williams, who is now police chief at Pinellas County Schools and a 2022 Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist, about Men in the Making, a progressive initiative focused on role modeling and life skills to increase minority male success (20:39). 

Williams has led many other youth-focused initiatives, including one that supports foster children in the school district (28:11). Listen to hear more about them.

OTHER TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• How Williams has successfully and impactfully conveyed law enforcement's role within the school system to the community served (2:05)
• How he partnered with local police chiefs and the Pinellas Sheriff to create a collaborative agreement following the murder of George Floyd (9:43)
• Ways he has continuously worked to improve officer morale, tailoring it to each individual's perception of what "morale" entails (14:06)

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RELATED LINKS:

• Men in the Making
• Women in the Making

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One of the biggest challenges facing most hospital security departments is funding… funding for their officers, programs, and security technology upgrades.

Fortunately, grants from the federal, state, and local governments can be excellent sources of funding. Just ask Joey Hunter, who is Director of Security, Safety and Emergency Preparedness for San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital.

He was able to secure more than $400,000 in federal and state grants, as well as save his hospital $500,000 in capital. Those are just some of the reasons Hunter is one of this year’s Campus Safety Healthcare Director of the Year finalists.

In our interview, Hunter tells us:

• How he was able to secure his grants: 1:30
• How to select a grant writer: 2:10
• How to select which grants to pursue: 2:51
• Advice for other hospitals applying for grants: 3:30 and 5:35

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