Georgetown has become increasingly aware of terrorist threats over the past two years. Efforts to safeguard the campus have gained new strength with the arrival of Dave Morrell, the new Vice President for Safety, on Nov. 1. Morell is responsible for the planning and execution of all safety measures taken at the University.
Morrell met with campus press on Thursday to discuss plans for handling emergencies and increasing general safety.
In outlining the University’s emergency preparedness plan, Morrell stressed the importance of quick dissemination of information. “The most critical process for managing any incident is getting information out so that people know what is going on,” Morrell said.
According to the plan, the Senior Administrator on Call, who is on duty 24 hours a day, monitors all information regarding possible emergency situations and makes sure the information flows efficiently. This information ends up in the hands of the Emergency Response Team, a group of representatives from various university offices formed after the Sept. 11 attacks to map out a contingency plan for possible future attacks.
The Emergency Response Team is supplemented by 14 groups from campus offices called Emergency Support Teams. “They’re all here to support the University so that when this incident management is taking place, every entity that could possibly have a play is at the table and has their own plan on how to continue,” said Morrell.
Information is next assembled at the Emergency Operations Center, which gathers information from various support teams and assembles it for University President John DeGioia’s office, where the course of action is finalized.
Finally, the Building and Marshal program, run by faculty, staff and students, ensures that appropriate information, such as evacuation plans, is on display in all of the buildings on campus.
Morrell said that student should pay attention to information about preparedness so they can respond appropriately to an emergency.
Morrell has also tried to create a safer day-to-day environment on campus. As the supervisor of the Department of Public Safety, he has overseen several new safety measures.
“A number of organizations decided that this function needed to be elevated significantly. That’s what this is a reflection of,” said DeGioia.
The Power Shift assigns DPS officers to vehicular and foot patrols on and around campus at night. DPS is also working with the Metropolitan Police Department to patrol off campus Georgetown properties.
Morrell said that he had no plans to allow DPS officers to carry weapons in response to the threat of crimes involving firearms. “I’m not aware of armed robberies taking place on or in proximity to campus,” said Morrell.
Morrell has also supervised the installment of Automatic External Defibrillators, to be used in the event of cardiac arrest on campus. The University is also having DPS officers and supervisors trained by the Red Cross.
