Our universities focus on quality of education and selection of the students. However, the safety and security of campus stakeholders is often not prioritized because experienced experts on campus safety are not available. Only when an incident occurs at the campus, which may turn into a major law and order issue, that the authorities realize their gross unpreparedness to deal with such situations. No trained eyes and minds are there to red flag potentially threatening situations. Often the failure to intervene early enough leads minor issues to develop into major ones.
Investing in security experts is inevitable as we had witnessed some recent turmoils at university campuses. The preparedness to deal with any contingency must be enhanced. Be it any contingency — medical, fire, law & order, violence or criminal behaviour, utility failure, natural disaster — each contingency tests how the university is geared to handle it and how fast can the Campus come back to normal functioning.
There must be a documented drill for each probable contingency and it has to be rehearsed repeatedly, not only as a table-top exercise but creating scenarios and actually participating in rehearsals in simulated but controlled conditions. While such rehearsals are on, a team of umpires or champions may be created to find out flaws and gaps in such rehearsals. Each and every person involved in the drill has to know his role, resources available at his hand and exactly how he has to work in tandem with other responders in the exercise. All resources like transport, fire tenders, ambulances, communication system, electricity and generators, lifts, etc, have to be tested in the rehearsals. Such preparedness will never go to waste as contingency often comes unannounced.
Similarly, an Incident Command Centre in a business or educational facility is the need of the hour. Often when an incident happens, it is confusion all the way! The left hand doesn’t know what right has to do. To and fro communication becomes a casualty. Who takes charge becomes an issue. There is a need to establish a proper chain of command to handle an incident, and training the chain of command in handling the resources at hand. The establishment of a proper Control Room which co-ordinates between the hot spot, the 1st responders, the fire fighters and the management is a must. The control room also has to interact with outside agencies during a crisis. It has to work under tremendous pressure and if the staff manning the control room is untrained or lack mental toughness, it can put a spoke in the fire fighting efforts. Hence, it is the Incident Command Centre, manned by Chain of Command, and the Security Control Room which takes charge and leads from the front.
It is high time the Universities start thinking along these lines. Expert hands have to be roped in to make the campus secure and future ready. AuroQed brings experience and expertise in University Campus Security. We provide solutions, technical advice, training and rehearsals for
various SOPs, Contingency drills, stakeholders Security & Surveillance Equipments. We also provide Comprehensive Risk Assessment Report of your business and undertake Third Party Security Audit of existing security apparatus at your business facility.
Let us partner in making your University Campus or business facility more safe and secure.