Editor’s Note: This article contains reference to gun violence, suicide and sexual assault.

On Thursday, Jan. 26, Student Government hosted Chats with the Chief, where NC State Police Chief Dan House spoke about campus safety and transparency and addressed individual concerns from students. 

House began with a presentation regarding current programs and initiatives managed by the NC State University Police Department to enhance campus safety and student involvement, including rapid deployment training and adding students to their hiring panel.

Training

House explained how NC State Police prepare for incident response situations such as active shooter threats. He said NC State Police have extensive training for incident response situations; officers regularly train to practice rapid deployment, which is taught to all police officers in Basic Law Enforcement Training School and emphasizes how first-responding officers should handle deadly situations before the SWAT team arrives.

“We at the Police Department, each one of our squads on an individual squad level, do this regularly,” House said. “So especially times at Christmas, where it’s really, really slow, or over the summer, where it’s slower and our squads have time, they go pull people off the road and run drills like this. So it’s kind of a constant training.”

House said additionally, NC State Police plan to train with the Raleigh Police Department in the coming months.

“Raleigh is our primary backup,” House said. “So if something happened, most of the Raleigh police officers have no idea where any of our buildings are on campus because they don’t respond here. So we’re trying to work better with them. We’re trying to pair those people up with our police officers to be able to get access to different things, so we don’t have to breach every door to get in where we try to get into.”

House said a vital aspect of preventing active shooter incidents is threat assessment, and NC State Police works with the Violence Prevention and Threat Management Program, which was created to proactively approach individuals who exhibit concerning behavior.

“One big part was that we can stop something from potentially happening, but the other part was, we were able to get them resources they needed,” House said. “So a lot of times people are just going through something in their life, and this is a way for early intervention.”

NC State Police also train for use-of-force decision making, and the department acquired a DART simulator that conducts training with a video display and laser weapons. House said this type of training is more cost effective and versatile than traditional training methods and it’s been extremely beneficial.

“If they walk into the scenario, and it’s all good guys, they’ve got to be able to realize, ‘These are all good guys, and we can’t shoot the good guys,’” House said. “And then also, we built into that de-escalation… We had several people that were real problem shooters, and we’ve been running them through this all the time. And I mean, it’s amazing the progress that this has.”

Community Engagement

NC State Police have been working towards expanding community engagement in several ways, House said. In July, the department obtained a therapy dog named Sasha, and she’s been instrumental in comforting members of the NC State community, including roommates of students who have died by suicide and officers who respond to traumatic events. 

“One of the things that really stuck out was during midterms last [semester], you know, people were really stressed out about the midterms and that type of thing,” House said. “And it was crazy how the dog would walk in, they pet the dog, and all of a sudden, they were back on track. So it was really good to see.”

House said to increase transparency and student involvement, NC State Police launched a program in 2020 that allows students to be a member on the interview panel when hiring police officers. Students can email [email protected] to get started as a volunteer panel member.

“It was two years ago now, I think it was, when we put this program together — we have yet to have a student sit on a panel,” House said. “So please, if you have any interest, we would love for you to come in and sit on a panel.”

David Rainer, associate vice chancellor for environmental health and public safety, said Chats with the Chief is another means of understanding student concerns and input.

“I think dialoguing with students is important, and that’s what we’re about,” Rainer said. “You know, everybody thinks we’re clairvoyant, everybody thinks we can read your minds, and the reality is we can’t. When Student Government approached us about a year and a half ago, maybe more, and asked to have regular meetings with police, the Chief and I talked about that, and we had some doubts, but I think it’s turned out really well. It’s great that we can just keep up the dialogue.”

Safety

Finally, House offered safety advice for students and addressed student concerns. He said NC State Police provides a variety of trainings, including active threat response training and Rape Aggression Defense training, for students. 

House also spoke about the blue light system; he said although the blue light stations are tested monthly, the telephone lines are sometimes inadvertently cut due to construction on I-440, which has led to outages in the past. 

House said the University has been working to replace some older bluelight call boxes with security stanchions, which include both an emergency call button and a security camera monitored by the Emergency Communications Center. However, he said security stanchions cost about $65,000 to install, so NC State Police are prioritizing placing them in high-traffic areas. 

House said since cell phones have become nearly ubiquitous among the campus population, students can take advantage of additional safety measures. The app what3words, which is available in the Apple and Google app stores, divides the world into 3 meter squares and assigns a unique combination of three words to each. House said students can use what3words in an emergency to give NC State Police their exact location. 

“Our communication center is tied into that, so if you give our communication center your three words, they know exactly where you are,” House said. “So especially if you’re confronted by somebody, you’re scared, but nothing’s happened yet. If you look it up on your phone, give us the three-word code word, we know exactly where you are, and we’re coming.”

The next Chats with the Chief will take place Thursday, Feb. 23, at 5 p.m. in Talley 4251. House said he encourages students to attend. 

“Any topic you want to talk about, I’m willing to listen, and we can talk on how to implement those things,” House said. 

If you or someone you know is having difficulty processing grief or having a mental health emergency, the Counseling Center can be reached 24 hours a day at 919-515-2423. If you are in a crisis situation and need immediate help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. In the case of a life-threatening emergency, call 911.

The Counseling Center’s website offers free online screenings, a plethora of self-help resources regarding mental health and wellness concerns and a comprehensive list of campus services available for those who need guidance. To view an exhaustive list, visit counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu/resources.

If you’re seeking professional counseling or other mental health services on campus, visit the Counseling Center’s Getting Started page at counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu/about-us/gettingstarted to complete paperwork, set up an appointment and more.

If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship violence, sexual violence, stalking or any other form of interpersonal violence and are in need of advocacy services, the NC State Women’s Center has trained advocates available to offer crisis intervention, emotional support, resources and referrals. Students can contact the 24/7 Sexual Assault Helpline at 919-515-4444 or email [email protected] to schedule an appointment with an advocate.

Advocacy services through the NC State Women’s Center are available for all students inclusive of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

For more information on advocacy services, please visit go.ncsu.edu/supportsurvivors. If you would like to talk to a confidential resource, you can also connect with the NC State Counseling Center at 919-515-2423. You may also visit go.ncsu.edu/safe for additional information on resources and reporting options.