Area schools have used the Feb. 12 assault incident on the Washington University campus to review their safety protocols and to emphasize the importance of public safety.
“Everyone learns from the mistakes other people make, and we’re trying to make sure that we don’t fall into the same traps,” said Jack Titone, St. Louis University Director of Public Safety.
At St. Louis University, the recent events are being used as an impetus to finalize changes that had been suggested a number of months ago.
Instead of employing students to check student IDs and monitor the activities of visitors entering dorms, St. Louis University will soon begin to use professional security guards.
“We had an incident several months ago where our student workers failed to stop an unauthorized entry,” said Titone. “By having a professional down there, the rules will be more closely followed.”
At both Webster University and Fontbonne University, the departments of public safety have stressed to students the importance of constant awareness.
“Nothing has been changed. We followed our standard procedures,” said Bob Kraeuchi, Director of Public Safety at Fontbonne University.
Kraeuchi elaborated that in the days after the assault there were increased patrols on Fontbonne’s campus and flyers had been posted warning students about the events at Wash. U.
On the University’s campus, safety and security efforts have focused around the continuing investigation.
According to Washington University Chief of Police Don Strom, investigators from both the Clayton Police Department and the Washington University Police Department have continued to work full time on solving the case.
While there have been no specific developments recently, the St. Louis County crime lab is still analyzing evidence from the scene of the crime. Data from that analysis has helped to rule out a number of suspects.
Additionally, Chancellor Mark Wrighton has appointed a committee that will review the University’s public safety policy and make recommendations to improve that policy. The recommendations are expected to be complete in about a month.
“Any time something like this happens, it’s an opportunity for us as a community to examine our own safety and security systems,” said Rob Wild, assistant to the chancellor. “There might be some new things there, and there might be some things we were already moving towards to make the community more safe.”
The Chancellor’s committee comes in addition to continuing efforts to collaborate with other university police and the public safety department in the area.
“We’re all concerned because people like this [perpetrator] don’t pick on any one institution, so there’s a good chance that any university could be affected,” stated Titone. “We all work together to stay safe.”