The shootings at Northern Illinois University last Thursday came a few days before N.C. State planned to test its emergency text messaging system part of its overall campus safety plan.

University officials refused to disclose the day the test will take place, saying it would be more realistic that way. However, they tested the system — similar to the one NIU used after the shooting — with a few individuals last week.

Steven Kazmierczak, 27, of Champagne, Ill. opened fire on a classroom at NIU and killed six people. Eighteen others were sent to the hospital. His motive is still unknown, according to police, but police response time was less than a minute after Kazmierczak entered the classroom with his guns.

But according to David Rainer, associate vice chancellor for environmental health and public safety, NCSU’s Campus Police cannot respond as quickly as NIU’s.

“Our campus police cover 2,100 acres here in the city of Raleigh,” he said. “I know our police response is extremely fast, but the unfortunate reality is [the shootings are] over in two to three to four minutes, and the shooters often commit suicide.”

Rainer said as long as there are unstable people in the world though, no matter how fast the response time is of the emergency personnel, they can never respond fast enough.

According to Student Body President Bobby Mills, the first thing that came to his mind when he heard about the shootings were the shootings at Virginia Tech about 10 months ago.

“You think of all the things we’ve tried to do from then to now, and realize that some things are just out of your control,” he said.

Mills said he is confident in NCSU’s emergency system though.

“We have duplicating systems,” he said.

Mills said one good thing about NIU’s response was their information systems.

“They did a great preventive measure informing the students, faculty, staff, [and] informing the news sources and parents,” he said.

One resource that assisted NIU’s campus police in helping the victims, according to NIU’s police chief Don Grady in a press conference Friday, was that all the university’s police officers are trained EMTs.

Rainer said NCSU’s campus police are not trained EMTs, but the fire protection officers are. He also said all police officers go through a state-run active shooter training.

According to Rainer, NCSU has not changed anything in its emergency plan since the shootings at NIU because there is not enough information about the incident yet.

“I know we’ve tested ourselves,” Rainer said. “I know we’re prepared.”

Rainer said once he heard about the shootings, he knew the stress, pressure and questions NIU would be dealing with, and he said he also knows some of the safety and health staff at the university.

NCSU’s emergency plan consists of updates to the University Web site, a siren system currently being installed, the text messaging service, Campus Police radio, public media and building liason listservs.

Mills said he thinks the system will work and student input has really helped out.