Issued: January 22, 2018
Faculty, Staff and Students,
Last Friday's false "active shooter: run-hide-fight" alarm was an unfortunate accident that caused many people undue distress.
“We are deeply and profoundly sorry for the stress and trauma this caused for members of the community, particularly our students, parents, and employees,” — Chris Bailey, President.
The reason for the false alarm, ironically, is that we have taken tremendous strides over the past few years to prepare our campus for the unthinkable. One of the most significant investments was the installation of the emergency alert system specifically for active threat events; the same system that was inadvertently triggered during installation work on Friday.
Counseling and debrief sessions for students and employees were provided on Friday. Counseling is also available this week (and ongoing) for both groups:
Counseling is available today (Monday, January 22) from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm in Student Center Conference Room A. Everyone is welcome. LCC Counseling Services are available to all students by appointment. Please call (360) 442-2330 for assistance.
Our Employee Assistance Program will be on campus today (Monday, January 22) from 9 am to 1 pm in the Heritage Room. The Employee Assistance Program is also available 24/7 to work with you and your dependents on an individual basis. Employees, please refer to today’s email from Sam Orth for more information.
While this event was traumatic for many, it also served as a learning experience. I am incredibly proud of our employees and students. People took the threat seriously and did what they needed to do to keep themselves safe. Many intentionally put themselves between their students or colleagues and any potential threats. Over the coming days and weeks, we will continue to debrief and review suggestions and recommendations to improve our preparedness and ensure that this doesn't happen again.
For those who want more immediate information about the "run-hide-fight" message and what it entails, please review this training video. Warning: if you are feeling traumatized from Friday's false alarm, please speak with a counselor before watching the video.
Employees will receive additional information about the Canvas course that our Safety & Security staff developed a few years ago. If you haven't gone through the training yet, now would be a good time.
Lastly, if you have not reviewed our Crisis Communication Procedure, now would be a good time for that as well. Be sure to sign up for emergency text messages (please note that the emergency text systems we use are separate from the on-campus notification system, which is why people only received the "all clear" message via text on Friday).
Sincerely,