Learning from September 10

Action Items Completed or Underway for Organizational Alignment, Staffing, Training and Professional Standards

• Update campus safety leadership and reporting structures to give the Chief of Police greater access to senior university leaders.
• Create a Chief Public Safety Officer position to strengthen coordination across campus police, emergency management, fire safety, and campus and event security.
• Review campus police staffing and pay to ensure resources match the university’s size, daily safety needs, and major-event security demands.
• Continue to ensure public safety leadership are regularly involved in university planning for major events, emergency preparedness, facilities use, communications, and student activities.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Event Planning, Response, and Interagency Coordination

• Require documented security assessments and university review for major campus events to identify safety needs and guide event planning.
• Clarify event planning procedures and who makes key safety decisions, including venue selection, staffing, ticketing, entry requirements, and security screening.
• Develop clear safety criteria for when events should move indoors or to a more secure location, while respecting free expression and public access requirements.
• Require written records of major-event reviews, including venue decisions, organizer responsibilities, legal considerations, unresolved safety concerns, resource needs, and leadership approvals.
• Clarify responsibilities for UVU and outside organizers when they jointly host campus events.
• Include legal counsel in event security decisions to ensure safety measures respect individual rights and university policies.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Event Security Planning and Security Assessment

• Require written security assessments for major events, including high-profile speakers, large gatherings, and outdoor events with heightened safety concerns.
• Incorporate location, speaker, attendance, and potential security concerns into event safety assessments, informed by law enforcement information, relevant public online activity, and lessons from similar events.
• Use security assessments to guide event locations, staffing, entry procedures, and safety measures, including emergency response, medical support, communications, and coordination with outside agencies.
• Document key event planning decisions and approvals, including safety measures considered, alternatives ruled out, unresolved concerns, and resource limitations.
• Develop clear criteria for when additional event security measures are needed based on identified safety concerns.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Event Security Operations

• Establish a process for written Event Action Plans for high-profile or higher-risk events, using security assessments to define staffing, leadership roles, security duties, communications, and emergency response.
• Establish an ongoing process to keep primary and backup emergency personnel assignments current, ensuring key response and leadership roles are clearly assigned.
• Require advance briefings, site walk-throughs, and day-of coordination for events with written Event Action Plans, bringing together campus police, event organizers, emergency management, law enforcement partners, and private security teams.
• Assign responsibility for monitoring security cameras and communications in real time during high-profile, outdoor, or higher-risk events to help identify and respond to emerging safety concerns.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Access Control, Screening and Credentialing

• Develop entry and identification plans tailored to major and higher-risk events to clarify who can access event spaces and restricted areas.
• Require UVU-controlled ticketing for major events when attendance estimates affect safety planning, including venue selection, staffing, entry procedures, and emergency communications.
• Require event organizers using other ticketing systems to provide updated attendance estimates and real-time access to ticketing data to support event safety planning.
• Establish written policies on items allowed and prohibited at campus events, consistent with applicable law.
• Develop written security screening procedures for events where screening is legally permitted and appropriate for the event’s safety needs.
• Train screening and event security staff on prohibited items, equipment use, disability accommodations, responding to security concerns, recordkeeping, and Utah firearms laws.
• Evaluate security screening technology based on event safety needs, legal and privacy requirements, available staffing, and accuracy.
• Develop written duties for event security personnel, covering entry checks, security screening, restricted areas, patrols, crowd management, and emergency response.
• Identify key locations before major outdoor events, including restricted areas, elevated vantage points, building entrances, security command locations, media and VIP areas, and emergency response routes.
• Prepare clear information for event attendees on entry procedures, security screening, prohibited items, bag restrictions, and applicable firearms requirements.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Communications and Mass Notification

• Designate a communications lead and backup for major emergencies to coordinate timely public information when the primary lead is unavailable.
• Clarify who can draft, approve, issue, update, correct, and withdraw emergency messages, including backup approval procedures and coordination when working remotely.
• Standardize emergency instructions across safety plans, alerts, training, and public guidance so the campus community receives consistent, clear directions on how to respond.
• Develop and test pre-approved emergency messages and establish regular updates to provide clear, consistent instructions for common emergencies and all-clear notifications.
• Review and streamline campus emergency notification systems to make alerts easier to activate and share through text messages, public announcements, computer alerts, and digital signs.
• Establish emergency communications testing at the start of each semester to check alert delivery, public announcements, radios, backup systems, contact information, and all-clear procedures.
• Strengthen coordination among campus security and emergency communication systems so entry controls, cameras, alarms, public announcements, digital signs, radios, and emergency alerts work together and support communication with local responders.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Implementation of the Emergency Operations Plan and Active Assailant Protocols

• Develop practical emergency response guides, staffing checklists, and role instructions, including backup assignments for key leadership and coordination positions.
• Clarify when to activate the university’s emergency response plan and mobilize emergency operations, senior leadership, and crisis communications teams.
• Integrate procedures for responding to an active attacker into training, practice exercises, event planning, and emergency message templates.
• Provide recurring emergency safety training for students, employees, and event staff, covering active assailant response, lockdowns, evacuation, sheltering, and reporting emergencies.
• Adopt plain language in safety education and emergency messages to help students, employees, and visitors understand what actions to take.

Action Items Completed or Underway for EOC Activation, Situational Awareness and Decision Support

• Align emergency response and communication plans and establish regular updates to keep leadership roles, backup responsibilities, and message approval procedures consistent.
• Clarify who can approve emergency messages when designated leaders are unavailable or unable to respond promptly.
• Assign a campus police representative or law enforcement liaison to the emergency operations center during major incidents to share timely information, coordinate response efforts, and support decisions.
• Conduct recurring exercises for emergency operations and senior leadership teams to practice sharing information, making decisions, approving public alerts, coordinating resources, and transferring leadership responsibilities.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Interagency Coordination and Mutual Aid Implementation

• Complete a mutual aid agreement with Orem Police Department and develop or update agreements with nearby public safety agencies to coordinate police, fire, medical, and emergency management support.
• Expand campus police participation in statewide public safety coordination to strengthen information sharing and collaboration with state agencies and other universities.
• Conduct joint emergency response exercises with local and state public safety partners to strengthen coordination among police, fire, medical, and emergency management teams.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Application of ICS and Event Action Planning

• Develop a standard Event Action Plan template that can be adapted to the size and security needs of major and higher-risk events.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Information Sharing and Protective Intelligence

• Continue working with Utah’s Statewide Information and Analysis Center to assess potential threats before events, report suspicious activity, and share information after incidents.
• Evaluate services to help protect university leaders and others in higher-risk roles by identifying and reducing personal information publicly available online.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Behavioral Threat Assessment and Threat Management

• Formally adopt policies and procedures for the university’s behavior assessment team and establish an annual review to keep its guidance current.
• Continue annual training and professional development for the university’s behavioral assessment team, including broader participation in organizations that help professionals assess and respond to potential threats.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Post-Incident Recovery, Corrective Actions and Preparedness Enhancements

• Continue to conduct formal reviews after major incidents, events, and emergency exercises to identify needed changes, assign responsibility and deadlines, track progress, and verify that changes work.
• Establish a structured support program for first responders and employees directly involved in major incidents, including peer support, confidential mental health resources, time to recover, and supervisor follow-up.
• Finalize the crisis communications plan and align it with emergency response procedures, public alerts, event planning, media communications, and senior leadership decisions.
• Continue expanding campus safety education and outreach through printed guides, website and app resources, campus information tables, employee training, and student preparedness programs.

Action Items Completed or Underway for Legal Considerations

• Review university event policies with legal counsel to ensure they remain consistent with free speech and firearms rights, Utah law, and evolving event management practices.
• Establish clear, objective rules for security fees at campus speaking events that apply consistently regardless of a speaker’s views or message and limit case-by-case discretion.
• Continue reviewing and updating campus safety warning and emergency alert procedures to meet federal campus safety requirements and reflect evolving practices.
• Regularly review campus safety, emergency management, and event planning procedures with legal counsel to ensure they remain consistent with applicable laws and regulations.