Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, IA
05-02-07
UNI police official says campus officers should be armed
By EMILY CHRISTENSEN, Courier Staff Writer
IOWA CITY --- The director of the University of Northern Iowa Department of
Public Safety said now is the time to arm certified campus officers.
And he is not alone in his belief.
"It is also the opinion of the directors at the University of Iowa and Iowa State
University, but the Board of Regents is the governing body," said Dave Zarifis,
UNI's director of public safety. "The issue is being reviewed. We want to make
sure we are doing everything we can."
The Board of Regents Tuesday observed a moment of silence in remembrance
of the 32 victims of last month's massacre on the Virginia Tech campus. Regent
President Michael Gartner said in light of that incident the three state universities
are reviewing their emergency response protocols. The request for review came
from Gov. Chet Culver.
"I would like to see a full review so any decisions made are made under the cool
pressure of facts and not the heated pressure of crisis," Gartner said.
This is not the first time UNI safety officials have looked at arming their officers.
Former Lt. Gary McCormack took this fight to the courts, but his case was
defeated in both district court and the Court of Appeals.
UNI is the only school among its peer institutions that has certified officers who
are not armed. Iowa and Iowa State officers are also the only ones in their
respective conferences who do not carry guns.
"We have been gearing up toward this," Zarifis said.
The school does have a positive working relationship with the Cedar Falls Police
Department, but Zarifis said the concern on campus is still response time. UNI
officers are usually the first on scene when a campus emergency is reported.
Regent Ruth Harkin said she is confident in the security measures currently in
place at the Regent institutions, but is interested in what recommendations the
reviews will produce. She said part of the review process will have to include
researching what has worked at similar institutions.
"When you talk about changing procedures you have to say, 'Do we think we are
going to be more effective and safer.' We don't have any evidence from Virginia
Tech yet, but those officers were armed," she said.
Tom Schellhardt, the university's vice president of administration and finance, is
working with administrators at Iowa and ISU to share information about critical
incident responses on each campus.
The review is not just about arming campus officers. The schools have also been
asked to look at their communication systems and protocol for responding to
other emergencies like natural disasters and outbreak like the pandemic flu.
"There is no one magical way to make sure you capture everyone that needs to
be captured. We need to make sure we are utilizing the ones that are most
effective," Zarifis said.
Zarifis said that could include everything from campus radio stations to e-mail or
text messaging notification.
"We know we probably need to improve in terms of communication," Schellhardt
said. "We learn from everything that happens. .. A couple of years ago we had a
white substance scare on campus and things went smoothly, but we learned
from that, too."
The review results are due to the board by June 30.