The Bradley University Police Department is holding security briefings on campus to prepare students and faculty in the event an active shooter.
The department's steps come as colleges and universities across the country review security plans in the wake of recent mass shootings
Chief Brian Joschko says the aim is to give people the best information about how to keep themselves safe if they ever find themselves in a grave situation:
“We just need to be prepared that something bad could happen. If we go into it with that type of mentality we’ll be a better community for it," Joschko said. "It doesn’t mean we have a lot of crime on our campus, and we don’t have a lot of crime on our campus, but we need to be prepared.”
Joschko says BU’s department has revised its tactics following mass shootings in the past decade. He says the Department of Homeland Security updates information on best practices in the wake of mass shootings.
The current recommendation for anyone in an active shooter situation -- in order of priority -- is to run, hide, and fight.
“They’re looking for easy targets," Joschko said. "If you find yourself in that situation, you want to make yourself as hard of a target to spot as possible.”
Joschko says the department and university have communication supports in place, like an indoor/outdoor PA system and text messaging, to quickly alert the community in the event of an active shooter.