Frostburg State Police Addresses Campus Issues at SGA Forum

Shantoya Sutherland / September 24, 2016 / 3.5k

On Wednesday September 21^st, the Student Affairs Committee of the Student Government Association hosted a Public Safety forum in partnership with the Frostburg State University’s Police Department. Sergeant Tom Bevan from the on-campus police department presented in front of students and spoke about public safety, in addition to answering any questions students had, pertaining to on or off campus related issues. At the beginning of the forum Bevan went through a short presentation informing students in the audience about the Frostburg State Police.

Sergeant Bevan provides students with campus safety information in the Compton Science Center (TBL/Shantoya Sutherland).

To start, Sgt. Bevan made sure to explain the staff FSU students have access to. FSUPD consists of 18 fully sworn, certified police officers and of those there are 14 patrol officers, three administrators, and one C3l detective. In addition the non-officers staffed are three full-time dispatchers, three part-time dispatchers, and one assistant. He clarified that FSUPD has full law enforcement authority on campus, which means they have the same authority as the state police here on campus. Then Sergeant Bevan instructed the audience on the different ways students can get notifications in case of campus emergencies; through Burg Alerts (which you can sign up for using the FSUPD website), University email, postings from the University website, Electronic Signage on campus buildings, local radio, and the campus Emergency Alert Siren.

Sgt. Bevan then moved on to the “On-Campus Safety” portion of his presentation, in which he discussed ways to insure student safety, crime statistics, and how to contact the FSUPD if a student needs help. First he spoke about dorm safety tips including, don’t allow strangers into exterior doors, lock valuables in closets or safes and to report suspicious or dangerous conditions to RA’s. Sgt. Bevan encouraged everyone to report any and all crimes so that FSUPD can help them.

Next Sgt. Bevan took questions from the audience. Members from the audience wrote their concerns on a slip of paper, and then the Chair of Student Affairs and Greek Council selected the questions. “What is the department doing to decrease the off-campus physical violence?” one student asked. Sgt. Bevan replied by answering, “One of the things that we do as a department off-campus is saturation patrols every weekend, where we have extra officers on the shift just to ride around our concurrent jurisdiction, which is usually where the parties are taking place. Frostburg City police also participates and the Allegany Sheriff’s Office has extra officers around as well, and we are trying to watch for dangerous situations.” Another concern is about the procedure following an off-campus break-in. Sgt. Bevan answered, “If, and it’s a big if, if it’s close to campus and we believe that there is a danger to the campus community, and Frostburg City Police lets us know about it, we send out a timely warning notice, a text message or email to you guys to let you know what’s going on, we try to provide as much information as possible; however, it’s all dependent on what we get from the city. We try to work very closely with them, however there are times when, because we’re different agencies, sometimes they don’t provide us with the information that we are seeking to send to you guys, there’s some communication break-downs; we’re working on it, we’re trying to make it better.”

At the end of the forum, an active shooter segment took place, in which Sgt. Bevan presented how to properly react to an active shooting situation. The three steps that were taught during this segment were: A.D.D. (Avoid. Deny. Defend). Avoiding an active shooter means running away, exiting the facility if possible, turning off all lights and cellphones, and drawing as little attention to yourself as possible. Deny means denying them access to your immediate space; close, lock, and block doors, and have a back-up plan. The back-up plan is to defend. If you are in a group, come up with tactical plans to stop the shooter. Don’t fight fairly; you have a right to defend yourself by any means necessary if your life is in danger. Also, be sure to comply when the authorities arrive at the scene; drop all weapons and do exactly as they tell you.

The forum in all was a successful way to keep open communication between the FSUDP law enforcement officers and the students they are here to protect.

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