To prepare and educate students on active shooter procedure, the Arkansas State University Police Department (UPD) held an active shooter presentation Monday.

Billy Branch, UPD captain, said they arrange an active shooter presentation every year to give incoming students an understanding of how to respond to an active shooter threat.

“That is just something that happens in the United States more frequently than I wish it would,” Branch said. “The main thing is to just let people know that these kinds of situations do happen.”

The presentation comprised an overview of what services UPD provides students, a video on bomb threat awareness and a video about how students should act in an active shooter situation.

Justice Hicks, a first-year political science major from Searcy, Arkansas, said she attended the event because an active shooter and bomb threats are situations that can happen to any campus.

In the video titled “Shots Fired: When Lightning Strikes on Campus” by the Center for Personal Protection and Safety, the narrator said the odds of a student being involved in an active shooter situation are similar to the odds of being struck by lightning. Hicks said she disagreed with this statement.

“I do not think it is the same as being struck by lightning anymore, I think it is way more common,” Hicks said. “Just look at what happened in Georgia the other day. It’s real. It happens every single day.”

Hicks said she wishes A-State would make events like the active shooter presentation mandatory to attend in order to raise awareness.

Randy Martin, UPD police chief, said all students in first year experience classes are required to attend the active shooter presentation.

Allison Clark, a first-year political science major from Cabot, Arkansas, said attending the event refreshed her knowledge of how to respond to campus threats. She said events like the active shooter presentation are important when in a new location or school because safety procedures may change depending on the location.

“I definitely did not expect a super long video, but it met the expectations of what to do, who to go to and gave me the right resources,” Clark said. “I do feel a little more prepared, but if the situation does happen, I’m obviously going to be scared.” 

The active shooter video covered the different ways students can respond to an armed threat on campus. It explained students must adopt a survival mindset, which consists of awareness, preparation and rehearsal. 

In the event of an active shooter on campus, the video advised students to assess the situation and decide on the best course of action. The video listed escaping, hiding and taking out the shooter as three effective decisions students must choose between when facing a threat.

Branch said the presentation also served to prepare students for what a UPD response would look like if an active shooter was on campus. The captain said students should not expect police to stay with them for long because law enforcement is trained to follow the sound of gunfire and keep moving until they find and eliminate the threat. 

Both Clark and Hicks said the most important information they learned at the event was the services UPD provides and how to contact them. 

During the presentation, Branch said UPD provides safety escorts, fingerprinting, engravings for valuables, vehicle unlocks and vehicle jumpstarts. 

Branch also played a video titled “Bomb Threat Awareness for College Students” from the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency. In the video, the narrator describes how college students should act in the event of a bomb threat on their campus.

The video said students should remain calm, follow directions, await updates, pay attention to their surroundings and be alert to suspicious activity.

Clark said she thinks A-State is doing what it can to prevent shootings, but Hicks said A-State could do more. 

Hicks said the Wilson Counseling center on campus is a great resource and should push for more student involvement. 

“Getting connected with counseling is one of the most important steps of preventative measures,” Hicks said.

Branch said preventing an active shooter situation is difficult because there is no profile of someone who chooses to become a school shooter. However, he said counseling services and faculty does a great job at letting UPD know when they suspect a student is having issues so they can reach out and help them. 

Branch said he thinks the presentations are useful because when A-State had shooting incidents in the past, students told UPD they were not scared because the presentations prepared them.

Branch said professors and groups can request a presentation and UPD will organize a time to come to their class or organization and perform the active shooter presentation. Requests can be filed at the UPD page on the A-State website.

UPD can be contacted 24/7 at 870-972-2093. They can be emailed at safe@astate.edu

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