After the incident in July, the Incident Command System is more commonly used.
When Gustavo Kern opened his dorm door at Gamertsfelder Hall one day this summer, he did not expect to see a man dressed in dark clothing, armed with a gun.
The man was a police officer, not an active shooter, and was looking for a victim. Still, the image was daunting.
“They were yelling ‘Police! Show me your hands!’ ” said Kern, who was conducting research at Ohio University over the summer, but left when his study abroad program ended.
In early July, OU students living on East Green were forced to evacuate their dorms while police responded to a report of a man having shot his mother.
The man, who called himself John Jackson, said he was calling from 58 E. Green Dr., the address for Gamertsfelder Hall.
Several hours later, after an extensive police sweep, OU Police Chief Andrew Powers concluded that there was no evidence of a shooting, and university life resumed.
The event may have startled Kern, but OU Police Department officials have said they consider the false alarm a good learning experience for any potential on-campus shooters.
Lt. Tim Ryan, head of OUPD criminal investigations, said the department was generally pleased with its response time, which totaled under two minutes until officers were on the scene.
An emergency text message was sent to those who opted into the service in about 13 minutes.
OUPD is also beginning to use the Incident Command System more routinely, Ryan said, adding that doing so would help its use become “second nature for us.”
The system outlines the structure for command and control of incidents like that in July, OUPD officials said.
“It’s how we identify who is in charge of what and keep track of our resources,” said Ryan.
He added that OUPD will begin using the system for OU football games this fall and will offer refresher training sessions to officers.
Ryan also strongly encouraged students, staff and community members to consider attending the Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Escape (ALICE) training, which teaches the average person how to deal with active shooter situations and what people can expect from the police when a gunman is at large.
Sessions are held every semester and officers produced an award-winning video on the topic, but Powers had previously said attendance for these training programs have been sparse.
The ALICE video, uploaded to YouTube, has been viewed approximately 4,180 times to date on the video-streaming website. The video, published July 30, 2013, previously had fewer than one thousand views when The Post checked about a month before the shooting.
Lt. Eric Hoskinson said in a previous interview that the program’s reach is “getting larger and larger each year.” Hoskinson also said OUPD is getting requests from regional campuses to conduct ALICE programs.
“Would I like to see them get bigger? Absolutely,” said Hoskinson.
Ryan said the department trains “at least annually” on various active shooter methods and situations. The most recent training was held two weeks before fall semester started at The Ridges.
@joshualim93
jl951613@ohio.edu
