By Frances Inabnet
This past Saturday, Sept. 21, around 11 p.m., a mass shooting occurred in downtown Birmingham, in the Five Points South entertainment district. The shooting resulted in four fatalities and 17 victims obtaining injuries, ranging from moderate to critical condition, taken to UAB Hospital. This incident has raised awareness regarding safety, and has heightened the alertness of students, faculty and residents of the general Birmingham population.
“Stay informed and ask questions if you are unsure,” said Captain Scott Leigh, Interim Chief at Samford University Police. “Crime can happen anywhere; it just happens in certain places more often than others. You just have to do the research and keep you and your friends informed.”
Tommy Taylor is Chief Officer and Director of Public Safety at Samford University and oversees Samford’s police department, a state-verified police agency, certified through the APOSTC.
Samford’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) consists of 22 police officers who are well-trained regarding the protection and well-being of each person who is part of the Samford community.
“Sometimes people get confused about the fact that we close the gates at night so that means nothing can happen anywhere, and that’s just not the case,” Taylor said.
Despite Samford’s safe campus and extremely low crime statistics that are apparent in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Clery Report, Taylor also emphasizes one’s need to be aware of his or her surroundings, while also ensuring that Samford’s police department will uphold the necessary safety precautions to establish a safe community.
“I think Samford does a great job of making their students feel safe,” said Karlie Rosenberry, a senior JMC major. “In addition to having a gate, I feel like I see campus police officers frequently (…) I lived on campus for three years and each night I knew I would go to bed knowing no one could get into campus housing.”
In the case of an active threat on campus. Samford police will immediately go to the threat and are trained to react as a one-man, two-man or multiple-person response team.
Other police officers on campus are also notified via radio to go immediately to the threat, while the Samford DPS would also reach out to the Homewood Police for additional backup.
In these types of situations, a rave notification would also be sent out to students, faculty and staff, covering the appropriate plan of action to respond efficiently and safely.
In efforts to bolster campus knowledge on how to react in certain threatening situations, Samford’s DPS requires two different ResLife drills to be carried out for the fall and spring every year, while also administering a campus-wide drill in the spring.
“It’s so important for us to be doing our best as police officers, but for us to also make sure that the campus community knows how to conduct themselves to stay situationally aware,” Taylor said.
The three types of drills are sheltering in place, severe weather sheltering and emergency exiting. In twenty minutes, students will be equipped to safely react in the case of an active threat, severe weather conditions or a fire.
Not only do these drills generate a safer on-campus environment, they also ensure that students and faculty will be prepared and knowledgeable about how to respond to these situations while off-campus.
For emergency situations, Samford Police Department can be reached at 205-726-2020.
