‘Safety Is a Shared Responsibility’

Prevention and training are the best ways to combat campus and workplace violence, and the NC State Police Department integrates those methods into its overall approach to keeping students, staff, faculty and visitors safe and secure while they’re on campus.

“Safety is a shared responsibility,” says NC State Police chief Jack Moorman. “Everyone is needed to keep campus safe.”

Through training workshops from NC State’s Violence Prevention and Threat Management (VPTM) program and multiple ongoing exercises throughout the year, law enforcement and safety personnel are using education to minimize threats on campus by increasing awareness.

Next week, Moorman will meet with the Faculty Senate to discuss campus safety efforts and risk assessment processes. Those include annual active shooter response training for university police; an active shooter educational video that is available to all staff, faculty and students with Unity access; and in-person active shooting response training that can be provided to any student, faculty or staff group.

University Police uses social media monitoring software to scan for troubling information on or near campus. The department also partners with the Division of Academic and Student Affairs to monitor reports of concerning behavior on campus.

Students, faculty and staff are also alerted about safety issues on and around campus through Alertus, a system that sends messages directly to the desktop or laptop of anyone signed onto the university network during a crisis situation; Wolf Alerts, which notify students, staff and faculty through emails, campus sirens and electronic billboards; and safety notices via email, which generally concern incidents off campus.

Additionally, the VPTM program offers free workshops several times throughout the year dealing with workplace violence, suicide prevention, sexual assault prevention and domestic violence and stalking prevention. The Workplace Violence Prevention workshop is mandatory for all supervisors and managers.

For more information about any of these programs or to inquire about future programs, contact Ed Markowski with VPTM at 919-513-4315 or etmarkow@ncsu.edu.

Here’s the schedule for violence prevention training courses for the rest of the fall semester.

Workplace Violence Prevention (mandatory for all supervisors and managers)

Description: Safety is a community responsibility. According to NC State’s Campus/Workplace Violence Prevention Regulation, all supervisors and managers are required to attend workplace violence prevention training. All staff and faculty are encouraged to complete this training at least biennially. This interactive training will acquaint attendees with NC State’s Campus/Workplace Violence Prevention Regulation. Attendees will leave with an understanding of what the university defines as workplace violence, knowledge of some of the warning signs and concerning behaviors that could lead to early interventions, strategies for how to respond and knowledge of reporting venues and procedures. Available resources will be discussed to identify strategies for addressing concerning or stressful situations and how to provide support for individuals who may be in distress.

Objectives

• Attendees will leave with an understanding of what constitutes violent behavior and their mandatory reporting responsibilities.
• Attendees will become familiar with what constitutes concerning behavior and how to address a situation where someone may be in distress.
• Attendees will be able to identify available resources.

Available date: Tuesday, Nov. 3 (2-4 p.m.)

Click here to sign up.

Suicide Prevention — QPR

Description: Suicide is a public health problem that affects us all. NC State has joined more than 160 colleges and universities in offering Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR), a community-based, nationally recognized, empirically based suicide-prevention program on campus. QPR is a brief training program for students, faculty and staff that focuses on how to connect an individual considering suicide (employee, student, or family member or friend) with additional support or refer them for professional help. The QPR training is both educational and experiential and includes an overview of national, state and NC State-specific statistics regarding suicide; a discussion of suicide myths versus facts; identification of behavioral, verbal and situational warning signs; and practice using concrete tools to help someone who is in distress.

Objectives

• QPR is intended to teach individuals how to recognize the warning signs of suicide, including verbal, behavioral and situational clues.
• Attendees will learn how to Question a person about suicidal thoughts, Persuade them to get help and Refer the person for help.

Available date: Wednesday, Nov. 11 (10 a.m.-noon)

Click here to sign up.

Sexual Assault Prevention

Description: Some studies estimate that one in four college-age women will experience a sexual assault while enrolled in school. Sexual assault prevention is a community responsibility. Members of the NC State community may find themselves in situations where a student or colleague reveals that they have been a victim of sexual assault. It is imperative for employees to have the tools to assist them in connecting these individuals with appropriate resources. This interactive training will provide an overview of what sexual assault entails, define consent, discuss bystander intervention strategies and provide tools to assist attendees in connecting a survivor with resources.

Objectives

• Attendees will be able to define sexual assault and consent.
• Attendees will become familiar with bystander intervention strategies.
• Attendees will understand available resources and will leave with crisis-intervention tools to assist someone who has reported an assault.
• Attendees will leave with a firm knowledge of their mandatory reporting responsibilities.

Available date: Tuesday, Nov. 17 (2-3:30 p.m.)

Please click here to sign up.

Domestic Violence and Stalking Awareness 101

Description:  According to a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in four women in the U.S. report that they have experienced domestic violence. Domestic and dating violence are two of the most commonly reported cases to NC State’s Behavior Assessment Team. This is an interactive training that uses video and discussion to help attendees understand what constitutes domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, the warning signs for these behaviors, impact on the survivor and impact on the community. Attendees will identify tools for assisting someone in distress, learn how to connect survivors with resources and understand their mandatory reporting responsibilities.

Objectives

• Attendees will be able to define domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
• Attendees will become familiar with bystander intervention strategies.
• Attendees will understand available resources and leave with crisis intervention tools to assist someone who has reported that they were a victim of violence.
• Attendees will leave with a firm knowledge of their mandatory reporting responsibilities.

Available date: Tuesday, Nov. 24 (2-3:30 p.m.)

Please click here to sign up.

A Day in the Life:  The Workplace Response to Domestic Violence

Description: This comprehensive training program was developed by the Centre County (Pennsylvania) Women’s Resource Center in response to a domestic violence homicide that occurred in 2001 in the town of State College. This three-hour training goes into more depth than the Domestic Violence and Stalking Awareness 101 course. This training is recommended for all supervisors and managers, individuals working directly with students and human resources personnel. All employees, however, are encouraged to attend.

Objectives

• To increase awareness and understanding of domestic violence and how it affects people at home and in the workplace.
• To increase opportunities for employees to access resources.
• To increase knowledge about how best to support abused employees.
• To motivate attendees to get involved and become part of the solution at work and in the community.

Available date: Wednesday, Oct. 28 (1-4 p.m.)

Please click here to sign up.