ECC first to finish emergency response training

Elgin Community College is the first suburban college to earn the state's seal of approval as a safe campus, officials said Friday.

The college will receive the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's "Ready to Respond Campus" designation Monday.

On the heels of Thursday's community college shooting in Oregon that left nine people dead and seven wounded, concern over campus safety and preparedness is high on everyone's mind, ECC Police Chief Emad Eassa said.

"It's so important these days," said Eassa, a 35-year law enforcement veteran. "(The designation) lets the public know that this is a safe school for people in the community to send their students. We met all the criteria to allow us to respond to any type of crises that could occur on our campus."

IEMA's "Ready to Respond Campus" program is designed to enhance campus safety, preparedness and response to all types of hazards at colleges and universities. Since the program's inception in February 2014, only five institutions statewide have earned the designation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Richland and Parkland community colleges in east central Illinois, and Augustana College in Rock Island.

No other community college or university has yet applied for state accreditation. Officials expect more institutions will get on board and adopt these voluntary preparedness standards.

"The program is not just for college shootings," said IEMA spokeswoman Patti Thompson, adding campus safety officers must be prepared to handle a range of emergencies, from tornadoes and flash flooding to disease outbreaks. "We're going to keep working with other colleges to try to do that."

There is no set time frame for colleges and universities to apply for and complete the necessary requirements to earn accreditation. Institutions that qualify get IEMA's "Ready to Respond Campus" seal of approval, which they can use on their websites and marketing materials.

"It's a way for colleges to communicate with parents and students that they take campus security very seriously," Thompson said.

Schools, colleges and universities nationwide have created emergency preparedness plans in the wake of campus shootings, such as Columbine High School (1999), Virginia Tech (2007), and Northern Illinois University (2008). Yet, there is no uniform set of standards, Thompson said.

"We're just trying to give a framework for colleges to try to achieve the highest level of preparedness for any type of event," she said.

The IEMA program emphasizes improving how colleges work with first responders in the community, educating students and employees about appropriate responses to crises, providing training for campus safety officers and employees, and communicating with the public.

ECC already has campus violence prevention and emergency operations plans in place. Yet, complying with state requirements was a rigorous process, Eassa said.

"We had to establish plans for hazard identification, risk assessment, operational planning, incident management, training, exercise, evaluation, corrective action, prevention and crisis communications," he said.

ECC's force comprises 18 sworn officers policing 14 buildings on the 217-acre campus. Its officers are qualified and trained to carry guns and rifles, and don't carry pepper spray or stun guns.

"The state only requires us to qualify once a year. We qualify twice a year, both in daylight and dim light," Eassa said.

A behavioral intervention team, including wellness professionals, meets regularly to resolve threats and issues with students before they escalate.

"We take all threats seriously," said Eassa, adding that officials have banned 107 people from campus for violating rules or engaging in criminal activity. "We want to send a strong message because we want people to know we won't tolerate this."

While there never has been a shooting, ECC's police officers spend a majority of their time training for how to respond in such a situation.

"We pride ourselves on that because of our visible, proactive policing," Eassa said. "Our strongest weapon here is our vocabulary ... our communication skills."