UW Continues Prevention Efforts Year After Virginia Tech Shootings
Training Session Held Wednesday
Updated: 7:26 am CDT April 17, 2008
MADISON, Wis. -- After the shootings at Virginia Tech one year ago, the University of Wisconsin-Madison put plans in place to notify the campus community of an emergency.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe university also developed efforts to help prevent similar tragedies on campus. One of those efforts is a training session called "Avenger Violence Awareness" that UW-Madison police put on Wednesday.During the training, police reviewed the events that happened at Virginia Tech and explained how communication can be key to preventing campus violence, WISC-TV reported."Our main message out there today is to think about the observable behaviors, to find your resources, to contact, to share that information," said Tamara Kowalski, with the UW-Madison Police Department.The Avenger Violence Awareness training is one prong of UW-Madison's response to the Virginia Tech shooting.The university has created a threat assessment and response team, which communicates with all parts of campus about any possible danger and deals with the threat to protect the community."One of the things that is absolutely true after Virginia Tech is that hoping it goes away is no longer the standard. If you have a question, the expectation is you will be contacting somebody about the concerns that you have," said Kevin Helmkamp, chair of the threat assessment and response team."We work in an undergrad office, an academic dean's office, so sometimes our decisions aren't terribly popular with students. And so it's a little bit of a concern for our staff on what might happen," said Becky Duffy, director of Prospective Student Services for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.The threat assessment and response team currently meets twice a month and in the event of any emergency.Members of the team said that they hope to continue to increase communication with the campus community on how to bring any threats to their attention.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe university also developed efforts to help prevent similar tragedies on campus. One of those efforts is a training session called "Avenger Violence Awareness" that UW-Madison police put on Wednesday.During the training, police reviewed the events that happened at Virginia Tech and explained how communication can be key to preventing campus violence, WISC-TV reported."Our main message out there today is to think about the observable behaviors, to find your resources, to contact, to share that information," said Tamara Kowalski, with the UW-Madison Police Department.The Avenger Violence Awareness training is one prong of UW-Madison's response to the Virginia Tech shooting.The university has created a threat assessment and response team, which communicates with all parts of campus about any possible danger and deals with the threat to protect the community."One of the things that is absolutely true after Virginia Tech is that hoping it goes away is no longer the standard. If you have a question, the expectation is you will be contacting somebody about the concerns that you have," said Kevin Helmkamp, chair of the threat assessment and response team."We work in an undergrad office, an academic dean's office, so sometimes our decisions aren't terribly popular with students. And so it's a little bit of a concern for our staff on what might happen," said Becky Duffy, director of Prospective Student Services for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.The threat assessment and response team currently meets twice a month and in the event of any emergency.Members of the team said that they hope to continue to increase communication with the campus community on how to bring any threats to their attention.Virginia Tech Victims Remembered
The Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort put on a "lie-in" at the state Capitol Rotunda Wednesday in a silent tribute to the 32 students and faculty members killed at Virginia Tech.Members wore ribbons made by the victims' families and lied down in honor of each of those who were killed.Flags in Virginia were being flown at half-staff Wednesday and a moment of silence at noon was followed by the tolling of bells to remember the victims. A candlelight vigil is being held Wednesday evening.Copyright 2008 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
