Doyle organizes safety task force

Ran on Sunday, July 15, 2007

Doyle organizes safety task force

By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff

In the wake of this spring's killing spree on the Virginia Tech campus, Gov. Jim Doyle organized the Task Force for Campus Safety that includes three people from western Wisconsin.
Task force members want to share safety measures to ensure campuses have the most effective system available, officials said..
"We're trying to establish best practices and how to deal with potential problems at preventative and invervention levels," said Roger Leque, task force co-chairman and River Falls police chief.
Another task force member, Deb Newman, associate director of housing and residential halls at UW-Eau Claire, said the group "wants the best ideas so they can have a set of best practices."
Newman said she is encouraged by the task force because many of the ideas discussed at meetings already are in place at UW-Eau Claire. One of them is a committee that meets bi-weekly to discuss students who are posing a safety risk to the campus and community.
The task force also aims to integrate forms of technology into situations where safety is compromised.
Task force member Jerry Matysik, Eau Claire's police chief, said he will encourage task force members to use a technology system the police department has used for the past year.
The federally funded system, used in emergencies, has an automated message sent to all phones, land lines and cellular phones informing them of the emergency situation.
Matysik said his department has used the system about a half dozen times in the past year.
"It's not a perfect system," he said. "But it's certainly helpful."
Matysik said he agreed to be on the committee because he thinks campus safety is an important issue.
"Whatever I can do to help, I'm certainly willing to offer expertise," he said.
An increase of information sharing among multiple parties must be fluid to ensure the highest level of safety possible.
Leque cited cooperation between city and campus police in River Falls, a city with university and technical college campuses, after a threatening racial comment was left in a restaurant's public restroom.
"We took steps and coordinated with campus personnel," Leque said.