In the wake of last week's tragedy at Virginia Tech, UW-Madison Police Chief Sue Riseling has agreed to chair the UW System President's 2007 Commission on University Security.
Riseling was asked to chair the commission by UW System President Kevin Reilly, who sent a letter to the chief Monday thanking her for her commitment to the plan.
""I think the president would say that we're lucky to have Chief Riseling to turn to on this,"" said UW System Communications Director Kate Dixon. ""He has every confidence that it will be an outstanding commission.""
Dixon said UW campuses across the system can expect a long-term look at security and preparedness for all different types of emergencies.
The commission will feature wide representation from different constituents on campus, including students, faculty and staff, but ""will draw largely on what Chief Riseling and her colleagues bring to the table,"" Dixon said.
According to Dixon, the commission will move quickly in examining the security and safety of all colleges and universities in the UW System.
UWPD Assistant Chief Dale Burke said one of the main concerns to be addressed at UW-Madison will be communication.
""What we're looking at is, how do we reach the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time and do it effectively?"" Burke said, noting the UWPD has been in contact with people from the Department of Information Technology and University Communications to find the most efficient communication options available.
One of the options to be discussed will be text messaging. Students would be required to submit a contact phone number to the UWPD so they can be alerted in the case of an emergency.
Burke also said they need to address the issue of what to tell people if something of similar magnitude to the Virginia Tech shootings were to occur.
""If we tell all students that, say, two people have been shot at Ogg Hall and the shooter is still at large ... we could do that, but what does that tell you?"" Burke said. ""Sometimes putting out the information isn't necessarily helpful, and may create more panic or fear than what's necessary.""
Burke said this could have been the reason for the delay in e-mail communications between the two shootings at Virginia Tech.
""We could end up with 400 phone calls to the UWPD, flooding our emergency lines,"" he said. ""We could become paralyzed at a time when we're trying to hunt down a killer.""
Burke said he is confident the UWPD is ready for whatever is thrown at them.
""It's impossible to be ready to handle anything, but I'm positive that we'll certainly be doing the best that we can, and we will survive,"" he said, ""We want everyone to be able to live to fight another day, and we're pretty confident that we can do that.""
