Police see sharp rise in threat reporting

A year after the Virginia Tech shootings, many students at this university are still feeling reverberations.

This fact is made clear by statistics from University Police. More students are reporting suspicious behavior to police than before, and the text-message crime alert system they established by the university after the massacre is widely used. Students have reported nearly twice as many suspicious incidents to university police over the past year, said police Lt. Robert Mueck. Police estimated they received about eight calls of reported threats the week after the Virginia Tech shooting.

"More people were apt to report strange behavior [following the shooting]," said police spokesman Paul Dillon. "We definitely got a lot more calls."

Dillon explained that if the department receives reports of threats, it launches an investigation to determine whether or not precautionary measures should be taken to protect others from the individual. Police can arrest the person, refer them to counseling, kick them off the campus or take no action, if police deem it necessary.

Although shootings are often unpredictable and difficult to prevent, reporting the warning signs to police makes their job much easier, Dillon said.

"We can't completely prevent these things from happening. There are no absolutes," Dillon said. "But if we get information, then we can take more actions to prevent it."

Linda Clement, the university's vice president for student affairs, pointed to the text message alert system, rolled out last April, as one of the university's first moves to ensure students can be immediately alerted of crimes in the area. The service caught on quickly among students and within its first week more than 3,000 students had signed up for the alerts.

The text messages are also important in case of emergencies, in emergencies such as the Virginia Tech shooting. Before last April, the university relied on a siren to inform students. In contrast, the text message system tells students why they are in danger and how they can avoid it, Clement said.

Clement said the Tech massacre also raised student awareness that they need to seek help in times of mental or emotional stress.

"The number of students that are seeking service at the Counseling Center has increased, I think that is positive," said Clement. "People are identifying themselves as needing help when they are stressed and students are advising their peers to do the same."

Kandell said that the Counseling Center is well equipped to deal with the influx of students. It has, for instance, a help line students can call if they are concerned about a friend.

Dillon stressed that, despite the unpredictable nature of school shootings like the one at Virginia Tech, police do all they can to prevent tragedies or minimize the damage if something does occur, and the best interests of the community are always in mind.

"If you look at incidents like this, most mass shootings are not on college campuses," Dillon said. "It might have made some students fearful, but to look over your shoulder is no way to go through life."