Safety initiatives at Miami Dade College have been under review after a high school shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida left 17 dead.
The College’s behavioral threat assessment committee and public safety plans are among the programs reviewed.
“Following the Parkland tragedy, we further stepped up security, reviewed our public safety plans and reviewed our college-wide behavioral threat assessment committee processes,” said Juan Mendieta, director of communications for MDC. “When these things happen, they are learning opportunities. We immediately huddled together as a college leadership team and reviewed our processes. We held a tabletop exercise the week of the shooting that week. We had gone over our plans and made sure our plans respond to everything required.”
The behavior threat assessment committee is a MDC committee that convenes to assess threatening behavior reported by employees and students. It determines the appropriate steps following a complaint, which vary from alerting law enforcement, notifying the dean of students office to place holds on registration and recommending mental health services. Members of the BTAC have to undergo specialized training.
Bomb threats also cause MDC to assess its emergency programs. Last year, the school experienced three bomb threats across Kendall and North campuses.
“Each threat is a learning opportunity,” Mendieta said. “We do what we call a post mortem to see if there was anything that can be improved.”
The College also has a comprehensive emergency management plan, a 122-page plan detailing how the College should respond to emergency situations. It’s located on MDC’s public safety and emergency preparedness website.
According to the CEMP, in the event of a threat or an attack, the first step is to relay all information available to the police. Following that, the director of emergency management Yakir Fernandez, public safety officials and MDC campus leadership are notified.
If the threat is serious enough and requires changes to operations, MDC Alerts are sent out with instructions on how students and employees should respond.
Only when law enforcement gives the “all clear” are new alerts sent out to resume all campus activities.
The plan has been under review prior to the 2017 hurricane, and the updated CEMP will soon be sent to web services to be uploaded online, according to Mendieta.
The plan was last reviewed on January 2015.
”Plans are always reviewed as part of a routine,” Mendieta said. “When major incidents occur they are also always, always opportunities for plans to be reviewed again. For sure.”
The College aims to keep its employees up to date on its emergency protocol by running routine emergency drills at its campuses throughout the academic year. The emergency drills vary from full-scale drills across the campus to tabletop exercises.
Miami Dade College’s Office of Emergency Preparedness is also part of the Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the RDSTF is a task force of first responders from fire/rescue, emergency management, public health, hospitals and law enforcement. The task force also works with schools, businesses and private industries to assess the state’s vulnerability and coordinates efforts to help respond to acts of terrorism that affect the state.
On MDC’s division of emergency preparedness website, there are links to inform the community about emergency situations such as active shooters and other dangerous situations.
The College’s OEP is also looking into updating college-wide technical security system infrastructure, which includes cameras, electronic locks and other facility securing initiatives.
“I believe that the College does a great job protecting its community in accordance to national guidelines and its own emergency response protocols,” said Raimundo Socorro, dean of the School of Justice. “In all my time working here, I’ve always felt safe coming in to work each day.”
The College urges students and employees to report suspicious behavior to public safety officers or use the MDC Safety App LiveSafe. The app enables direct and discreet two-way communication with safety officials using text, picture, video and audio.
