| March 2nd, 2018

Is FAMU Safe

By: journeymagazine

By| Blaire Bishop

There have been 17 school shootings in the US in 2018. It is only the first week of March and students have been in school only two months. The shootings ranges from Elementary through college/universities level, due to: gang violence, fights and “Mental Illness.”

A Winston-Salem State University football player was shot to death at a campus party. Najee Ali Baker was killed on the campus of Wake Forest University. A 15-year-old student shot 16 people — killing two other 15-year-olds — at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the head and a 15-year-old girl shot in the wrist at Sal Castro Middle School in Los Angeles, and other students were grazed by bullets.

All of those schools experienced active shooters. And recently, one of the biggest school shootings occured at Douglas High School in Parkland.. Just a few weeks ago, A 19-year-old man gunned down students and staff with a rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, slaughtering at least 17 unsuspecting students and adults. The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, had once been expelled from the high school over disciplinary problems.

The Parkland incident brings the importance of campus safety at Florida A&M and other universities and schools to the forefront. Chief Terence M. Calloway of the FAMU Police Department say, “We are over prepared to protect the safety of our students, staff and faculty, now then ever with all of the shootings. ”

“We have an on-campus active shooter through training, electronic applications, and programs, FAMU is the only HBCU in the country to have its own active shooter video,” said Calloway as he expressed the importance of educating the campus on gun violence.

The video is to help educate. The stakeholders is the key considering there have been 17 school shootings and nearly 300 school shootings since 2013 according to Everytown for Gun Safety – an organization established to end gun violence.

Of the nearly 300 school shootings that have been recorded, 91 of them occurred on a college campus.

FAMU PD has clocked in about 7,300 hours of training and is working towards getting its officers EMT certified, so they may have the ability to act as first responders at the scene before the ambulance arrives.

FSU Police Department also continues to take the necessary steps to prepare students and employees for an active shooter on campus.

“(FSU PD) continues to provide training seminars and have meetings with employees and students,” said FSU Police Chief David Perry.

Despite, the training and education put in place, some on college campuses are concerned about those weapons the law allows for people to carry. Currently, there are 10 states that allow concealed firearms on college campuses and President trump is trying to pass a law that allows teachers to carry guns.

These school shooting are honestly getting out of hand, Tawannah Johnson, a junior business accountant student explained to officials.

“The fact that Trump is trying to allow teacher or professors to have weapons in the classroom is insane said Jonson. “I don’t feel safe knowing there’s a weapon in the classroom. You never know what people are thinking. This is getting scary.”

FAMU has an app called LiveSafe as another way of safety communication. It’s used by FAMU PD as a faster and subtle way to communicate with those on campus. FSU PD also utilizes the SeminoleSAFE electronic application to share information to campus activities, emergency alerts, a map, and a tracking option giving the police access to a person’s location.