Six years ago, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 Virginia Tech students and injured 17 others in what is known as the worst shooting by a single gunman in the history of the United States. Which begs the question: what measures has UNC Wilmington taken to prevent the same tragedy on its campus?

Despite public perception that there has been a recent increase in mass shootings, there has been no significant rise on school campuses.

Spree killings reached a peak of five in the ’90s. Prior to that there had only been two or three per decade.

In more recent years mass shootings have been declining in number. Between 2000 and 2004 there was either one mass shooting per year or none.

There has been no uprising trend, but a high peak and a fast decline ratio. Yet 12 of the most deadly shootings have taken place in the past seven years.

The uncertainty of when these tragedies will occur forces all school campuses to be prepared for the worst case scenario at any time. UNCW is no different, and considers being prepared for these situations a very serious issue.

“We do squad level training based on critical incidents,” said   Lieutenant Louis J. DeNoia of the UNCW police department. “We also do department-wide training on the same circumstances.”

In addition to being an active participant in these training exercises, DeNoia recently attended a conference for law enforcement in which the sheriff of Newtown, CT, the location of Sandy Hook Elementary School, spoke.

“It was a really helpful and great experience hearing him speak,” said DeNoia.

Statewide, different levels of law enforcement are practicing single-officer responses in order to prevent unnecessary backup. Most incidents last only six to ten minutes. In most cases, it is only one officer who is called to the scene. That officer must be trained well enough to diffuse the situation. UNCW officers practice other non-mandatory trainings, including a large-scale training exercise every two to three years.

During summer and winter breaks, UNCW police officers practice their large-scale training exercise. The officers are warned that there will be an exercise in the coming days but have no idea when it will occur. At any moment they must respond to the emergency with no knowledge if it is real or fake. This creates a situation in which the officers must respond with accuracy and precision. This training session is referred to as A.L.E.R.T.

A.L.E.R.T. stands for Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training. A.L.E.R.T. is a scenario-based training system created by Texas State University in the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. One of the original A.L.E.R.T. instructors in North Carolina was Captain T. Curry, a UNCW police officer.

“The national standard in active shooter response training is A.L.E.R.T.,” Curry said. “We have been implementing A.L.E.R.T. for several years now. We have been trying our best to stay ahead of the game.”

Police departments, state agencies, and federal law enforcement all use the principles of A.L.E.R.T. in efforts to stop active shooter or terrorism situations. Universities began practicing this training in 2009. A.L.E.R.T. often combines the use of law enforcement on the local level with state and federal agencies to ensure safety. One of the core goals of this system is to learn from past mistakes.

“We try to develop and update our training as different situations come to light as much as possible, and we learn from all of them,” said Lieutenant DeNoia.

So what would you do if a gunman were to come across our campus?

“I would run to the nearest bathroom and lock myself in!” said UNCW student Brendan Crumb.

“If I were in a classroom, I think my best bet would be to stay where I was and find the farthest corner from the door so the shooter couldn’t see me,” said Malcolm Bradford, another UNCW student.

If a mass shooting incident were to occur on campus, there would be a diverse set of strategies to evade the threat. Captain Curry advises a better formulated plan called A.D.D. A.D.D. is an acronym for avoid, deny, and defend.

“The main thing we teach is to avoid the gunman, deny access to your whereabouts, and defend yourself to the end,” said Curry.

These mass murder tragedies are not to be taken lightly and can happen on any campus at any time. However, the UNCW police department is constantly training to ensure the safety of UNCWfaculty and students.