MN: SPC active shooter.............?

[thunderoussilence]

Wait....he's over there on the grassy knoll.

[Squib Joe]

Again, this could have been a non-issue with proper 911 operator training.

911: "911, what is the nature of your emergency?"

Caller: "I'm a teacher at St. Paul College and we have a report that somebody is on campus is carrying a gun!"

911: "Ok, they're carrying a gun in their hand? Are they acting in a threatening manner?"

Caller: "Well no.. they have it in one of those holster pouch thingys and a student saw it when he bent over to pick up some books"

911: "I guess I'll ask again. What is the nature of your emergency?"

[MostlyHarmless]

Nah. I'll bet they have a protocol for this type of thing and all the responses worked out in an action plan ahead of time.

The lesson that post-secondary schools took away from the Virginia Tech tragedy was that they had to have a plan in place to deal with gun violence. They concluded that the plan had to be idiot proof and have specific thresholds and responses. As a result, every little college and tech school (as well as the K-12s) has these set up and so you just go down some chart and read, "deadly weapon seen on campus" and go across to "lock down campus so threat can be isolated and call 911" -- of which, the responding department is supposed to have a plan in place for how to respond which they then follow.

The possibly more relevant lesson that schools should know what's going on with their students has not been internalized to nearly the same degree, though many of the best schools never had a problem in this area in the first place and are safer for it.

[nyffman]

They concluded that the plan had to be idiot proof and have specific thresholds and responses.

The only plan of that nature would have to begin with: "Once upon a time........." Or, the redneck version, "Ya'll ain't gonna believe this ****."

[plblark]

An e-mail reply from the St Paul College spokesman and his boss:

Good Afternoon,

I take full responsibility for the error in my statement and I do apologize. When I was speaking to the reporter from the Star Tribune I was being evacuated by the Police at the time and I communicated information to him in jest and again I apologize. It was irresponsible of me to make the statement without being 100% certain of its accuracy. I spoke to the reporter after the fact and he let me know my error and I asked him to correct it as soon as possible.

But again, I misrepresented a fact and I hope you can accept my apology for the error. I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

Jim Stumne

Mr. Stumne was incorrect in his statement and corrected it immediately unfortunately the press did not reflect that correction in their reporting. The state law applies to K12 not Minnesota State Colleges & Universities campuses.

Craig L. Anderson, Ed.S.
Vice President - Administration
Saint Paul College
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities System
Voice: 651.846.1365
Fax: 651.846.1675

Note the shifting of blame but also carefully note the admission that they KNOW the state law.

[plblark]

Thanks to Chunkstyle for the contact info and his comments in the strib online version. Thanks to Rothman and His Wallyness for proofing my initial communications. Thanks to all the rest of you for staying on top of these things.

It's funny in this day and age we think a simple e-mail won't matter much and often that's proven out but sometimes, just maybe it can have an effect. That, and phone calls and other e-mails all saying the same thing makes this grass roots activism work.

If we left this with nothing other than the reporter and these administrators KNOWING the difference (and admitting they know it now) then we came away with something.

[1911fan]

Well its amazing that they know the law, but the Uof M does not....

[hammAR]

Well its amazing that they know the law, but the Uof M does not...care......