While it’s hard to prepare for a tragedy such as the shootings at Virginia Tech, Ohio University officials said they are as prepared as possible to handle such a catastrophe.

“We’re always concerned about the safety and welfare of our staff on a daily basis,” said OU President Roderick McDavis. “We constantly look for ways to make it better, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Both McDavis and OU Police Department Chief Michael Martinsen said local law enforcement agencies are trained and prepared to respond to an active shooter on campus.

If an active shooter were on campus, Martinsen said all available, on-duty officers would respond to the scene and coordinate efforts once they arrived. OUPD would also contact the Athens Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Athens County Sheriff’s Department.

“The tactical training of our officers is vital,” Martinsen said. “We’re constantly training and assessing our ability to maintain the campus and respond to emergencies.”

Martinsen said having a communication system in place is essential. He said a telephone call tree would coordinate the university’s response.

OUPD officers would immediately call resident directors to start the process of shutting down residence halls. They would also put alerts on the cable system and local radio stations. If time permitted, mass e-mails would be sent, Martinsen said.

The university also has a crisis response team to provide services outside of law enforcement, in order to assist students and their families. Leaders from all departments on campus compose the team.

“To be quite frank, though, when you have an active shooter, none of the communication options I just explained would probably have made much of a difference when you have something that took place of that magnitude,” he said.

Martinsen said law enforcement agencies have changed their approach to such situations since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Before Columbine, officers contained the threat and called SWAT to respond, he said. After Columbine, law enforcement realized that patrol officers that respond to the scene have to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible.

“We consider ourselves a safe environment, as most universities are a safe environment,” Martinsen said. “But we’re not immune to dangerous people wandering onto campus and committing violent acts.”

While the residence halls are harder to access, actual classroom buildings are different, he said. “We are vulnerable on campus in that we are an open environment, but our law enforcement responsibility has to be consistent with that of a municipality.”