Message from the UWF Chief of Police regarding FSU Shooting Incident

Message from the UWF Chief of Police regarding FSU Shooting Incident
Nov. 20, 2014

Dear Campus Community,

The tragic shooting that occurred early this morning at Florida State University serves as a reminder that an active shooter incident can occur anywhere. The safety of our students, faculty and staff is always the University’s top priority and in light of this recent news, we wanted to share our established procedures with the campus community to ensure you remain informed and prepared in the event of an emergency situation of this nature.

UWF Police officers are trained on how to respond to an active shooter incident and participate in training exercises. Additionally, UWF Police have working relationships with all area law enforcement and participate in joint training exercises on the University campus.

The University has several methods of notifying the campus community in an active shooter incident, including text messaging, mass email, outdoor sirens/speakers, building announcement speakers, computer desktop alerts and University social media outlets. To learn more about UWF Emergency Communications, please visit http://uwfemergency.org/emergency-communications/

Please ensure that your contact information is updated for Mobile Alert by logging into MyUWF and searching “Mobile Alert.” To learn more about Mobile Alert, please visit http://uwfemergency.org/enroll-in-mobile-alert/

Below are tips on how to stay safe in the event of an active shooter incident:

• If a person enters the building with a weapon, if you hear gun fire or observe suspicious behavior, contact the University Police at 911 or 850.474.2415 and provide as much information as possible.
• If it is safe to do so, evacuate the building and move to a safe location.
• If evacuation is not possible, find a secure area to hide until notified by emergency personnel that it is safe to leave.
• As a last resort, if confronted by the violent person, you should attempt to incapacitate or disrupt the individual.

We strongly encourage you to review our active shooter survival video located on the UWF Police website at http://uwf.edu/offices/police/safety-tips/shots-fired-on-campus/ You must be logged into MyUWF to access the video.

UWF Police offers training classes for faculty, staff and students on how to survive an active shooter incident. You can register for upcoming scheduled classes on the HR training calendar at https://nautical.uwf.edu/comm/desk/main.cfm

If you have any questions, please feel free to call UWF Police at 850.474.2415 or visit the UWF Police website at www.uwf.edu/police/.

Sincerely,

John Warren
Chief of Police
University of West Florida