SEMO officials confident school could handle a crime emergency

Southeast Missouri State University officials could decide to cancel classes and keep students inside campus buildings if faced with a manhunt for a dangerous escaped convict like the one that occurred this week in Virginia.

"We do have an emergency operations plan," said Doug Richards, director of Southeast's department of public safety.

"Would we shut the university down? That would be dictated totally by the situation," he said.

Richards said it would be up to the school's campus emergency team to decide how to react in an emergency. That team includes university president Dr. Ken Dobbins and his top administrators.

"If we got into a major situation, we would attempt to limit the access and people leaving the campus," he said.

Southeast has a staff member designated as an emergency coordinator in each campus building. The university's outdoor warning sirens also can be used for campuswide announcements in the event of an emergency, Richards said.

"We do feel like we are prepared for an event like that," Richards said

A manhunt for an escaped convict suspected in the slayings of a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy shut down the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va., on the first day of classes Monday as sharpshooters were posted on university rooftops and students scrambled for safety.

Hundreds of police scoured the 2,600-acre campus. School officials canceled classes for the school's 26,000 students and sent some 6,000 professors and other workers home.

Authorities later Monday captured William Morva, 24, after he was found hiding in a briar patch along a trail off-campus.

Police had worried that he would blend in with students on campus.

Southeast student government president Adam Hanna said events on the Virginia Tech campus make students realize the need for security.

"I think you get lulled into a sense of security here because of the small campus," he said of Southeast.

Hanna said he has confidence in Southeast's campus police, many of whom are veterans of other law enforcement agencies. Still, he said, the open nature of campuses makes it difficult to guard against every criminal who could put students at risk.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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