Should active shooter training be mandatory at UNC?

UNC-Chapel Hill leaders and University Police are working on a full debrief report of the Aug. 28 campus shooting that left a professor dead.

They will analyze university and police response, as well as, safety and security protocols on campus.

"So once we receive that full debrief from all of our public safety team members, we're going to take a look as a board and the administration is going to work with us to look at those next steps," said David Boliek.

Boliek has served on the Board of Trustees since 2019 and was formerly the Chair.

He is advocating for mandatory active shooter training at the university.

“We’ve worked to prepare classrooms with locks and we've worked across campus installing cameras, to allow for surveillance and really what would amount to act if there's an active shooter incident, for example, those cameras can be can be vital to law enforcement from a command center to see the status of what's going on on campus," Boliek said. "Now, are we there yet? 100%? I don't think so. But I think we're working very hard to get there."

He said although the university offers emergency response information and training resources to the campus community, he believes this information should be shared in a more direct way.

"We do have information in terms of training for students and faculty on active shooter situations, but it's sort of like the instructions on your refrigerator that you get when you buy a new refrigerator," he said. "You get the instructions, [and] let's face it, most people just don't read that."

Boliek believes there should be a policy in place to enforce training across the board.

"I believe that what we need to do is get it in front of students.," he said. "Make it part of orientation. Get it in front of faculty and make it part of the start of the new school year or semester because ultimately it's about saving lives. And and that type of training is very important,” he added.

Details on what type of training and what that will look like is still up in the air.

The next steps will come after the full debrief is complete. Other ideas being considered includes; the implementation of more cameras on campus, license plate readers along streets on campus, as well as continuing to look at the lighting on campus for nighttime events.

"I think our public safety team across the board did a fantastic job. But as I've said in the past, I'm the type of person that always looks and wants to look toward what can we do to constantly and consistently improve," Boliek said. "We always want to be improving and be prepared for what may happen next because we don't know what's around the corner."

Seth DiSanto has years of experience in law enforcement, and he's now the chief operating officer of Lockdown International.

"You get one opportunity to get it right," DiSanto said. "If you don't, the consequences could be catastrophic."

DiSanto said it's vital that active threat training  is clear and up to date. He said an in-person seminar is the best option.

"What I really want to make sure at the end of the presentation is that the people that attended are not at all confused or have any questions about what it is that we want to see them do in a response," DiSanto said.

The UNC Board of Trustees met at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The board is set to meet again at 9 a.m. Thursday.