The thought of a mass shooting occurring at Stan State is something that we, as a campus community, will hopefully never have to experience. However thinking about it and preparing is something Campus Police and other parties are taking very seriously.

 In 2019 alone there have been a total of 283 mass shootings, according to data from the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive (GVA).  One of those was the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, which hits close to home for many of us.

“The biggest concern I have is that the doors only lock from the outside with a key. These are such old buildings, but its really problematic that there isn’t a kind of manual locking mechanism from the inside out,” says Dr. Mary Roaf, an Ethnic Studies professor here at Stan State. 

“On my faculty I.D card, I can only open doors in Bizzini when they are locked. I tried Naraghi Hall, where I also teach, and my card didn’t work there,” said Dr. Roaf.   

It is important that the students of Stan State, as well as faculty and staff, are educated on the resources and trainings offered here on campus. Doing so will not only potentially prevent a mass shooting from happening on campus, but also in the case of one happening it will decrease the likelihood of any lives from being taken.

“Preparation and planning for an active shooter never stops because the minute you start dropping your guard with respect to perishable skills training and muscle memory training, that’s when something will happen and then we (as a community) get caught off guard,” said Sergeant Givo Ysael.

Sergeant Givo Ysael takes Active shooter training very seriously and (along with Chief Strode) is going above and beyond to ensure that, if Stan state were to ever have an active shooter on campus, the Campus police and the rest of Stan State will be as prepared as possible.

Campus Police have partnered with the Turlock Police Department for an upcoming active shooter training as well as the active shooter training that occurred on campus involving faculty and staff.

During the active shooter training that happened on campus, our faculty and staff went through several stations to better prepare themselves for such an event. One of the stations taught them how to respond. Another consisted of the “run, hide and fight” concept that was broken down into individual lessons and scenarios.

“When we got to the final station which was the “hide” we simulated being in a classroom and what you’d do if there was an active shooter in the building. There were very specific practical instructions that I would not have thought of,” said Dr. Mary Roaf. 

These stations included mockups of what a possible scenario may look like as well as dummies to demonstrate different ways to handle an active shooter and fight back. 

Sergeant Givo Ysael has created an active shooter training presentation that he presents during the Citizen Academy and is open to students, faculty and staff who sign up for it. During this presentation he covers the three basic recommended training points: run, hide, fight, as well as the “see something, say something” movement.

“Even if they can’t attend the training presentation that I put on, they can still get enough active shooter training from the videos and pamphlets found on the Stan State website,” said Sergeant Givo Ysael.

On the Stan State home website, you can find a link at the bottom of the page under resources titled “Emergency Information”. Within the Emergency Information page, you will find an Emergency guides tab that has all the necessary resources and information you need regarding any type of Emergency or crisis on campus.

On that same page you can also find a tab labeled “Active Shooter”. Within that tab you can find several training videos explaining what to do in the case of an active shooter on campus.

If you haven’t already updated your contact Information through Stan Alert, you can do so on the Emergency Information page under the Stan Alert tab to get texts, emails or voice messages sent directly to you and to be alerted to any type of emergency or major situation happening on campus.