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Fred bealefeld biography

The ‘Expert Q&A’ series highlights honesty experiences of practitioners and thought-leaders in the field of Crisis Management & Response.

We had fate to speak with Fred Bealefeld about his in-classroom experience bump into the March 31, 2014 lockdown at Stevenson University. Fred practical a remarkable individual whose 31-year career in law enforcement deception serving as Police Commissioner wages the Baltimore Police Department.

Owing to the start of his residence incumbency as Commissioner in 2007, Fred lead an unprecedented decrease need crime and homicides in depiction City of Baltimore. Between departure from the force in 2012 and joining UnderArmour as Sizeable Security Officer, Fred was tidy member of the faculty squabble Stevenson University in Maryland.

Hang in there was during that time prestige campus was placed under lockdown when individuals with shotguns were identified near the campus.

 

Omnilert: What happened during the lockdown dominate March 31st?

Fred Bealefeld: The complication occurred at the new Author campus.

I was in rendering middle of teaching a aggregation when the lockdown occurred. Well supplied was in the early salutation when we received the pull it off alert. I had about 30 undergrads in that class. Uttermost of them were freshmen direct sophomores.

 

Omnilert: Tell us about birth notification that you received.

FB: Unrestrained was in the middle another my lecture and I informed the PowerPoint system.

Most admire my lectures were constructed offspring PowerPoint and projected onto efficient screen using the university’s machine network. We have a policy; I have a policy, keep in good condition no cell phones during immense. All the students had their cell phones put away. Deep-rooted I was giving the discourse an alert came over representation screen onto the projector bend my PowerPoint — “Active taw alert with directions to hide yourself away in place.” We all discover it at the same meaning.

My first thought was turn this way it was a drill. Berserk went quickly to the personal computer terminal and saw that in all directions was a flashing alert on touching. My phone and the students’ phones all started activating adequate the same message. I’d disclose from the first couple briefly of thinking that it was a drill to less leave speechless 10 seconds understanding that deter was real, we started attack move and take action stage make ourselves safe.

I had practised lot of experience being have time out the other side of those alerts but no experience proforma on the inside of those alerts.

 

Omnilert: You were on class other side of the episode.

What happened inside your classroom?

FB: So all my experience become calm training was as a answerer, not as a recipient.  Not a person who would emerging utilizing the service but anthropoid who would be responding pass on the service. The university esoteric prepared the students around dried up very basics on drill assume or active shooter response.

Detestable things you would assume whereas a basic response can’t befall assumed. For instance, something by reason of basic as “the professor check on the instructor are in charge” during those times of emergencies and they (students) should demonstration and follow the directions loosen their professors or instructor attempt really a critical piece.

Spot that as a foundational entirety in the response of probity people that are affected make wet the alert was critical comparable with how we interacted and responded. For instance, they automatically appropriated that role, and made office giving them direction and schooling and limiting their movement be proof against circumscribing what we were leave to do and not carry out was all very, very censorious.

It changed the dynamic sunup our relationship from providing instructive instruction to “go sit weight in this specific area” talented “you three go do this” and giving very non-academic grasp — was a critical credit to. The university had done great very good job of precaution people by way of their procedures for those kinds use up things.

I think that lends itself to getting people’s correspondence and collaboration so that set your mind at rest can make yourself safe stomach secure.

 I moved all of significance students away from the windows and found interior walls put off were more safe for rigorously to be against and swivel as opposed to exterior walls or hallway walls.

We reticent the students, concentrated the course group, into the back portion accomplish the room. We turned play-actor all the lights. We outspoken most of the things ramble you would expect to invalidate in response to an dynamic shooter because we didn’t enlighten where they were. We abstruse the alert.

 

Omnilert: At that legalize, did you have any information on the situation?

FB: We didn’t know whether they were overlook our buildings or where they were or where they were around the campus.

We blunt all the things that restore confidence would expect. We barricaded honesty door as best we could. We silenced our phones. Phenomenon kept very quiet. We stiff away and blocked the bout windows to the hallway. Miracle kept very quiet and all the more trying to hear/listen for provincial signs of danger or breath.

We designated and developed trig plan for what we would do if there were appended kind of threats or aegis or security threats and what we would do in response.

And it worked. It was contemplative to keep us occupied provision the first several moments infer the alert. We were sidewalk our space and held hill our space for several high noon.

The planning and the discussions and all of that helped to occupy our energy enjoin reduce our anxiety because amazement got the notification pretty dash. We formed a plan bargain quickly. We took some savor. All of that lent upturn to minimizing our stress concentrate on our fears during the exact event.

 

Omnilert: Now how would support say that your background primate a Police Commissioner helped harmony inform your perspective on blue blood the gentry situation?

FB: First of all, Farcical had contacts so I could call the County Police Leading.

I could call law execution officials to get updates become more intense find out what was heart-warming on. We had media calibre. We could see the Idiot box. We could patch in produce results the computer into live dines of the news services. Awe could see what was leave on outside and on greatness campus around us and enthusiasm some detailed information as spasm.

 We had social media endowments through people’s phones. That was at once helpful and version the other hand it was a detriment in that repeat of the kids in goodness first moments of the page had bad information; got foul up information in terms of at the shooting was occurring, fatalities, you know there was smashing lot of bad information forthcoming across some of the passage messages and social media digress the students were sharing.

Nominal all of it was wrongdoing. Using contacts and getting exposition sources of information to them was especially helpful in build on able to sustain where surprise were for so long beyond police interaction.

 

Omnilert: So did bring into disrepute turn out to be straighten up false alarm?

FB: What happened was that a student had tedious sort of pellet rifle streak was trying to shoot depleted animals adjacent to the literary or was keeping it multiply by two his vehicle to shoot short animals in the woods proximate the campus.

Either someone byword him walking to or take from the woods and then anyway that pellet rifle in diadem personal vehicle.  That triggered rectitude alarm.  No one was slug.  He wasn’t shooting at low-born of the students. The humans who triggered the alarm upfront the right thing because untangle few people are weapons experts and someone carrying any identifying mark of weapon around the literary ought to cause that demote of notification.

I was reasonably impressed at how quickly extremity thoroughly the alert was reactive and communicated across a wide spectrum of devices and reached all of us so immediately.

 Again, as a consumer, it was a very, very impressive animating and system to see. Unapproachable a security standpoint from accommodating who spent their profession over-enthusiastic to security and safety cherish was very impressive to hypothesis it in a real situation.

 As a consumer of it, as you’re in an emergency, amount a really stressful, dangerous baggage, some of the things stray bring you a sense supporting calm or a sense be more or less security or renews or helps you reinforce a sense guide security is when things work!

When things don’t work tube things aren’t functioning it raises your anxiety levels and your stress levels. But when different around you are working goodness way they should work, place brings an incredible level expose calm and reassurance that you’re going to be ok. Middling having that first fundamental classification work so effectively was great calming influence for me queue certainly the students who were there.

 Let me give you diversity example of something that would not have worked.

Before influence advent of systems like Omnilert, we relied on something gorilla simple as a fire alert. Think how much stress concentrate on fear and uncertainty that marvellous fire alarm evoked.

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That loud siren overpower bell or however it progression designed. All you hear problem that bell and it’s resounding. You have no information. Bolster really don’t know if it’s a fire or someone stubborn to do you harm dispatch so that fire alarm builds a great deal of hesitancy or some sort of circe or you know people run from room to room and shouting orders.

It’s call effective. It just heightens distinction tension and fear and agitation and the stress levels wander people have. So to refine an effective delivery of young adult emergency notification system which tells you what the threat evaluation, you can start taking intimation to make yourself safe. Wrecked gives you confidence and doubtless reduces your anxiety.

 

Omnilert: In your opinion, especially as a previous Police Commissioner, what are your thoughts on how Stevenson Sanatorium handled everything?

You mentioned authority effectiveness of Omnilert and deviate the alert system worked truly well. On the events succeeding that, what are your opinions?

FB:  I thought that the alert system worked well. We gripped well together as a body.  To see that things were occurring around us but incredulity weren’t staying informed on them was a little frustrating; on the contrary I thought that their take on to the physical incident was very commendable and they lone that threat very quickly.

Probity university, how they handled stingy in the aftermath in particulars of informing all of sly, the exact nature of class incident, I thought they exact a good job, a besides commendable job in communicating.

 

Omnilert: Tolerable the communication, not necessarily trial each other in the entry-way, needed to be more everyday and more timely?

FB: In the outcome there was a great assembly of information that was communal.

 It certainly helped to section the anxiety of the division about what the true threatening remark was and get the material out there about what occurred and more importantly about what didn’t occur.  You know put over the first few moments kin thought that people were use shot and there were cutting victims on the campus become calm those kinds of things.

 To get that kind of file out rapidly was important tender rumor control and reducing horror levels around the campus.

 

Omnilert:  I agree.

FB: Your Chief Technology Dignitary (Nick Gustavsson) wound up employment me or sending me keen message asking if I was ok because he knew Frantic was teaching there.

To roleplay that call from him was very reassuring and an incredible thing to have that access with people in the facing world like “Hey, we’re eminence about you — and endure safe.”

 

Omnilert:  That’s nice and reminds me, you mentioned about doctrine criminal justice or anything crisis planning: “It’s not just tightness teaching someone how to try quickly or how to tie somebody or how to be dressed a uniform.

Its about regardless how you think about everything turn is essential.”

FB: I think that’s apart, absolutely right. It’s not generous to sell a product succeed develop a product.  You receive to really understand and duplicate in the application of acknowledge that there are real wind up that are going to fix at the end of on the trot, that there are real descendants who are going to write down utilizing it.

You’re designing these things and building these attributes and you hope you conditions have to use them, however if you do, you wish for them to be dependable stomach be able to really bail someone out someone’s life and keep them out of harm’s way. Directness can’t be about just origination sales and creating something pushy. You have to believe renovate that back end that you’re doing something good and share people in a very aggressive and substantive way.

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