Building Your Campus’ Security Muscle & Minds

College Degrees, Certifications Foster Credibility

Not only do top administrators and executives need to be convinced of the value of training, so do some officers and mid-level security management personnel.

Marilyn Hollier, who is IAHSS president and director of hospitals and health centers security for the University of Michigan (UM) Division of Public Safety and Security, says appropriate officer training, as well as CHPA and Certified Protection Professional (CPP) designations foster campus security department credibility and professionalism. She is such a firm believer in training and education that nine members of her leadership team have CHPAs and four have CPPs.

Some even have master degrees, which is a cost-effective option for the many security professionals who work for colleges or university-affiliated hospitals. That being said, Hollier believes that not enough campus security professionals pursue college educations or graduate degrees.

“That’s concerning because they are missing out on some skills that could help them be successful,” she says. “It also helps us elevate our profession. I think there are more [security professionals with college educations and advanced degrees] today than 25 years ago, but especially in hospitals where you have a very complex environment, they are starting to understand that it is a specific job that you can’t just hire a retired cop or general to do because of all of the regulations. It’s a really gray world, and if you are a person who sees the world as black and white, you won’t be successful in a hospital because people act out for reasons. The psychiatric patient who is lashing out at staff in the lockdown unit cannot be treated the same way as the person out on the street lashing out at the cops. The patient is in the hospital because they need help.”

Train Staff to Report Potential Threats, Risks

Education and training, along with appropriate policies will also help general staff navigate this type of environment. At UM, Hollier’s department provides training to nurses on workplace violence.
“Nurses are getting slapped, bitten, pinched and punched,” she says. “We’re about getting nurses to call us the first time a patient acts out so we can help them figure out what to do so it doesn’t happen again.”

Even if there hasn’t been any physical violence, many UM staff members have been instructed on how to identify the warning signs that a person could become violent. They have also been trained to call security so the hospital can put together a threat assessment team and hopefully prevent violence from occurring at all.

Many hospitals also flag patients and/or their family members who have acted out in the past. If they return to the hospital, employees know how to respond appropriately. At UM, the responses range from just an awareness that the individual or individuals are on site to campus police officers standing by when they have their appointment.

Security Education Takes Many Forms

Training of non-security staff doesn’t have to be limited to the classroom or new-hire orientation. It can take many forms, such as via websites dedicated to staff, newsletters, brochures and one-on-one face time in places like the cafeteria.

Community-oriented policing can also help, and this approach has been adopted by many educational and healthcare facilities. At UM, each officer has his or her own department, and they act as the liaisons between the department and security. Some hospital security departments have informal 15-20-minute shift meetings with nurses and other employees on a regular basis to go over public safety protocols, best practices and policies.

Tabletop and full-scale exercises also help security personnel and non-security employees grasp campus protection concepts. Hollier warns, however, that full-scale exercises that involve police officers in full SWAT gear could cause panic in those individuals who are unaware that what is happening is not a real active shooter incident.

“It’s risky business doing drills at a major hospital like ours,” she says. “How do you communicate to everyone that this is just a drill?”

To prevent unnecessary alarm, it is sometimes advisable for hospitals to conduct this type of training and exercises at an offsite facility. For schools and universities, it is wise to conduct these exercises on site during winter, spring or summer breaks. On-site drills with local law enforcement will help them to become familiar with the layout of the campus and its personnel.

Public Safety Training Must Include Everyone
On-going training of everyone in the organization – including top administrators, security personnel and regular employees – is critical to the safety and security of an organization. That training should include preparedness for rare events, such as active shooter incidents and infant abductions. It should also cover more common occurrences like workplace violence and cardiac arrest.

Addressing both ends of the incident spectrum as well as everything in between will ensure your organization will be optimally prepared to save lives or, better yet, prevent an incident from occurring in the first place.

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