Taking a break from her studies on Tuesday, Sonia Ruiz, a freshman at SMC, said she isn’t sure if a similar attack could occur on her campus. What she does know is that there isn’t anything that anyone could do, including police, to stop a similar incident from happening.
“Even if we have security, there is only so much that they can do,” Ruiz said. “We’re an open campus. Anyone can come in and you can’t control everything.”
But if there is a shooting spree or similar tragedy at Santa Monica College, Ruiz hopes school officials will respond in a more timely manner than did officials at Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech officials and police have been criticized for their handling of the incident, mainly because a notice about the shooting wasn’t sent out to the campus community until about two hours after the initial shots were fired. Authorities have defended their actions, saying that they believed the first incident, in which Cho killed two students in a dormitory, was an isolated domestic incident.
“Santa Monica College has an excellent safety record and an outstanding and highly visible police force that is trained in emergency procedures,” Tsang said in his statement. “We also have a relatively small campus that makes it easier for our police officers to secure. Some of our buildings can be locked remotely from the SMC Police Station, blocking entry.”
The college also holds agreements with both Santa Monica and Los Angeles police departments for response in emergency situations.
The statement released by Tsang includes tips for students if they do hear gunshots on campus. Students should stay put and not leave the premises, Tsang advises.
“In general, be alert to suspicious behavior,” Tsang said. “Do not approach anyone who you believe might be displaying suspicious behavior, but contact police.”
The incident will force college campuses across the country to take a hard look at their emergency response policies. Dr. Britt Minshall, a former law enforcement officer and member of INTERPOL, hopes the incident will also force federal legislators to get guns off the streets.
“Next time a kid gets mad, he will pick up a pole and hit one kid and the others will stop him,” he said. “With a semiautomatic weapon, nobody will stop him.”
To Minshall, it appears that the university made its decision to delay sending the notification of the initial shooting as a way to maintain its pristine image, whether it is for enrollment or grant purposes.
“They’re completely forgetting the other 30,000 students on campus,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 18, 2007. Read the original PDF.