What to do When Scandal Strikes Your Department
At Campus Safety Conference West, a community college director will describe how his public safety department recovered.
How many times have you sat in the audience at training and heard a chief executive sharing his or her experience of a disaster that has befallen their agency involving a corrupt officer, rapist, thief, or any number of things that one “bad-apple” can rain down on a department? Central Oregon Community College Assistant Director/Interim Director Jim Bennett was just one of those audience members who thought how fortunate he was to work in an environment that had not experienced those types of incidents. Managing a campus public safety department in Bend, Ore., Bennett had heard countless times, that “it’s Bend…nothing ever happens here!”
In late July 2016, everything changed, because it DID happen in Bend. A homicide happened on his campus. However, the suspect wasn’t some deranged murderer from the outskirts of town. The accused was an officer in Bennett’s department.
As the devastating news became reality and the profound sadness for the family of the victim sank in, it was only the beginning of a long journey of response and recovery.
On Aug. 1 at Campus Safety Conference West in Long Beach, Calif., Bennett will discuss the importance of supporting and keeping your team focused, “checking” every box on the “to-do” list of response, rebuilding trust and creating a recovery plan for critical incidents. In “Tragedy…A Lesson in Preparation, Response and Recovery,” he will provide a “check list” of what cannot be forgotten when disaster or tragedy strikes and it rests on you to be prepared and responsive to the needs of your department and campus community.
Ideal for smaller departments that do not routinely face critical incidents, but also relevant to larger departments as an opportunity to assess their own plans for response and recovery.
To register for Campus Safety Conference West, visit CampusSafetyConference.com.
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