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Critics Blister Va. Tech on Campus Security (PC Campus Police Did Nothing Because of Lawyers)
NewsMax.com ^ | April 17, 2007

Posted on 04/17/2007 10:03:44 PM PDT by TBP

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- On a university campus of 2,600 acres, with more than 26,000 students, ironclad security is not a practical goal. Even so, tough questions swiftly surfaced as to how effectively Virginia Tech authorities responded to Monday's horrific massacre.

Why were campus police so sure the threat was contained in one dormitory, when most of the killings occurred two hours later in a classroom building?

Why did they think the assailant might have left the campus after those initial shootings?

Why was there a lag of more than two hours after the first shootings before an alarm was e-mailed campuswide - around the time another, more deadly burst of carnage occurred? And more generally, some security experts wondered, was the school's crisis planning and emergency communications system up to the task?

Clearly, something went terribly wrong.

Bombarded with security questions at a news conference, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed the shooting at the West Ambler Johnston dorm, first reported about 7:15 a.m., was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: massacre; pc; shooting; virginiatech
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To: MacDorcha

No apology necessary. You may very well be right, I had heard that the argument in the residence hall was by the elevators, maybe I am the one who is wrong, although it has been reported that there were no witnesses to the first homicide.


61 posted on 04/18/2007 1:13:39 AM PDT by a_dem_no_more
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To: ketsu
The conclusion most people should come to is: "The police and the college administration cannot save me. Why can't I be allowed to try and save myself and others?" Let me carry the firearm I am guaranteed the right to carry by the U.S. constitution.

The myth of gun control is always proven wrong.

If my right to carry a firearm is taken away by the gubmint, the gubmint is supposed to keep me safe.

That has consistently proven to be pure nonsense.

The only thing stopping the mass killer at Virginia Tech from further killing was his own decision to commit suicide.

The "authorities" were there to carry bodies and clean up the blood after the carnage. They didn't protect anybody.

62 posted on 04/18/2007 1:54:24 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: TBP

Did you see how fat those cops were? They couldn’t run down a one-legged whatever. They were pathetic.


63 posted on 04/18/2007 2:35:55 AM PDT by jslade (The beatings well cease when morale improves!)
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To: ketsu
Do you know why they rushed everyone to that ridiculous “Heal, heal, heal!!!” ceremony

Because candles have replaced guns.


BUMP

64 posted on 04/18/2007 2:38:34 AM PDT by capitalist229 (Get Democrats out of our pockets and Republicans out of our bedrooms.)
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To: jdm
How can you shoot someone else and then yourself, without a gun being left behind?

Initially, the police thought it a murder-suicide; however, after the initial investigation and after questioning witnesses in the building, they knew it wasn't, they got an ID of the perp, found him, and were questioning him when the second shooting occurred. It seemed reasonable to not lockdown the campus if you thought you had the perp in custody.

65 posted on 04/18/2007 2:42:22 AM PDT by JoeGar
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
The conclusion most people should come to is: "The police and the college administration cannot save me. Why can't I be allowed to try and save myself and others?" Let me carry the firearm I am guaranteed the right to carry by the U.S. constitution. The myth of gun control is always proven wrong. If my right to carry a firearm is taken away by the gubmint, the gubmint is supposed to keep me safe. That has consistently proven to be pure nonsense. The only thing stopping the mass killer at Virginia Tech from further killing was his own decision to commit suicide. The "authorities" were there to carry bodies and clean up the blood after the carnage. They didn't protect anybody.
I think the ability to carry a gun on campus just deals with the symptom, not the cause.

Americans have an easy life. You are far more likely to be killed in a car accident than murdered, even after situations like this. So Americans never learn how to deal with the one in a million chance that they are put in mortal danger.

No mistake that the only person who dealt with the shooter was the Israeli professor who had extensive military experience. Mandatory military service would also teach chilren the self discipline to be a productive and happy members of society.

Building on that point, if both the students and the shooter had had military training before the attack it wouldn't have happened. A. Because the students would have known how to react and defend themselves and B. because the shooter would have been properly socialized or had a definitive record as an antisocial loony that couldn't hack it, giving college administrators greater leeway to deal with him(not to defend the administration at all, they knew he was a crazy from his professors, they should have done more).

Finally one more tertiary but related point, military training would do wonders to protect Americans from terrorism. If all Americans had a baseline military background do you think they would have gone as quietly to their doom on 9/11?
66 posted on 04/18/2007 2:57:56 AM PDT by ketsu
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To: ketsu
Blaming the police for this is stupid. Blaming the administration is not.

Over the next few days everyone and everything will get blamed except the screwball that did it.

Oh, they will make reference to the shooter but simply as a jumping off point to air their personal agendas.

Next to condemning America and American society, the greatest cause of this violence will be laid at the feet of an inanimate object.
67 posted on 04/18/2007 3:03:39 AM PDT by Beckwith (dhimmicrats and the liberal media have chosen sides -- Islamofascism)
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To: RobbyS
"But who could have anticipated such an eventuality?"

Apparently about half the world. I guess they missed their calling in law enforcement, they seem to be able to foretell the outcome of any cirmstance, even if it hasn't happened before in the history of law enforcement.

I expect a complete turnover in law enforcement and then we can get all these really, really smart people in there that will have some kind of Minority Report ESP powers and stop crime before it happens. Finally the statest will have achieved their goal, total protection all the time by the state.

The inability of some people to keep their 20/20 hindsight under control is staggering.

68 posted on 04/18/2007 3:06:04 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Just my opinion, no relationship to reality is expressed or implied.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
P C will destroy this country ...

That's its intended purpose
69 posted on 04/18/2007 3:06:51 AM PDT by Beckwith (dhimmicrats and the liberal media have chosen sides -- Islamofascism)
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To: RobbyS

>>The mistake was forgetting that a university is not like a neighborhood but essentially one large building. So of like ignoring a shooting in a skyscraper.

Have you ever been to a sizeable university? VT is a small town of around 40,000, quite a few more than in a typical skyscraper.


70 posted on 04/18/2007 3:11:49 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: JoeGar
Campus population of 26,000 students..

Regardless of the circumstances, can you think of any municipality in the US that shuts down the entire city for a shooting?
Even if you just limit such a response to cities of 26,000 or less, expectations of such a reaction are extremely low..

Here in Kansas City, MO (more than 26K population..) the city would be in "lock-down" mode half of the year..
The (liberal) public's reaction is completely over the top on this..

71 posted on 04/18/2007 3:21:22 AM PDT by Drammach ("If you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." -- Benjamin Franklin)
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To: gcruse
You can’t seriously expect the security police or law enforcement to have done much more than they did.

Not with the current law enforcement culture, no.

72 posted on 04/18/2007 3:35:08 AM PDT by Fundamentally Fair (Challenged.)
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To: jdm

I had on Fox from the 1st shooting, I don’t remember ever hearing a murder/suicide angle. I do remember hearing that the killer was a boyfriend who caught his girlfriend with another man, and shot them both.


73 posted on 04/18/2007 3:51:02 AM PDT by panthermom (DUNCAN HUNTER 2008)
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To: RobbyS

Actually, Virginia Tech’s campus, centered around a large drill field for the Corps of Cadets, is enormous and sprawls over many, many acres, with the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg surrounding it. Locking it and all 22,000+ students down was just not possible because of its sheer size.


74 posted on 04/18/2007 3:57:45 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("Si vis pacem para bellum")
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

One reasonable compromise for campus security would be to allow Profs and staff to carry if licensed.
They also could have a speaker in every building class room that would allow the admin to address everyone and alert them..then profs could lock classroom doors..a quick lock down.
Two murders on campus and gunman with gun out there is good enough reason to lock down..just ask what the parents would have done if they were at home and there was a murder on the street.
Once a Perp kills..it is easier to kill again.


75 posted on 04/18/2007 4:09:40 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: ketsu

American’s as a society have also bought into the violence begets violence. They teach children to never fight back, no matter what. If a classmate knocks you down and steals your lunch money, just take it. Report it to the teacher, yada yada yada.


76 posted on 04/18/2007 4:25:40 AM PDT by panthermom (DUNCAN HUNTER 2008)
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To: Proud_texan

Reminding me of that Tom Cruise movie, what was the name?


77 posted on 04/18/2007 7:03:55 AM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

No, I mean getting the word out sooner. They could have put that message out an hour before. Maybe something more cautionary to building monitors. Not that I think any of this mattered. Do we know why he choise THAT particular building? Was it more or less secure than other places he could have hit? Even in retrospect they seem not to know.


78 posted on 04/18/2007 7:10:58 AM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
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To: TBP

Um, my dear, he bolted the doors of the later building shut, not the dorm.

Therefore, your logic here doesn’t work....at all.

You can’t seriously say that every time somebody is shot you block off an entire campus of 25,000 students.

That would be idiotic.


79 posted on 04/18/2007 7:19:05 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: gcruse

I really don’t buy the Muslim stuff. If he was Muslim, we would find something in his past, some writings.......something!

Muslims are not known for an invisible, apathetic faith.

Those who say he was Muslim have some little phrase to point to, and that is it.

Nobody saying he was Muslim. No writings. No Koran in his room. Nothing. NOTHING!

The guy was just a psycho.


80 posted on 04/18/2007 7:21:27 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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