Top Stories: Help Us Catch a Killer

Unknown Offender Linked by DNA in Two Separate Cases

150,000 Reward

In October 2009, college student Morgan Harrington left a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and disappeared. It would be several months before her body was discovered in a field about 10 miles away.

We need your help to find her killer. The Virginia State Police, Fairfax City Police, and the FBI have released two enhanced sketches of the suspect and are reminding the public there is a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

The following agencies are cooperating in the investigation: the Virginia State Police, City of Fairfax Police, University of Virginia Police, Charlottesville Police, Albemarle County Police, Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Virginia Tech Police Department, George Mason Police Department and the FBI.

Read the full story at FBI.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/authorities-launch-multimedia-campaign-in-morgan-harrington-murder-case

Campuses: Vulnerable Targets

The events at Virginia Tech have forced campus security into the spotlight. A shooter or a terrorist on a campus, is there a distinction?

In a report for MIPT, University of Central Oklahoma President and MIPT Board Member, W. Roger Webb, discusses the security challenges facing higher education leaders for a community disposed toward freedom.

Webb, the former Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety, offers insight from an academic as well as law enforcement background, providing questions every campus president and security personnel should be asking.

Read the Full Article
http://www.terrorisminfo.mipt.org/pdf/College-Campuses-Vulnerable-Terrorism.pdf

Article sponsored by police officers who have written books on law enforcement jobs; as well as those involved in writing on leadership.

College and University Emergency Notification: How has the world changed?

One hour Webinar:

Date and Time: Tuesday, May 1, 2007 10:00 am

Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -07:00, San Francisco) Change time zone
May 1, 2007 11:00 am

Mountain Daylight Time (GMT -06:00, Denver)
May 1, 2007 12:00 pm

Central Daylight Time (GMT -05:00, Chicago)
May 1, 2007 1:00 pm

Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -04:00, New York)

Panelist(s) Info: Featured guest speaker: Dr. Robert C. Chandler, crisis communications expert, author, consultant, and educator, Pepperdine University

Duration: 1 hour

Description: Crisis communication expert, Dr. Robert Chandler of Pepperdine University, speaks on campus safety and emergency communications.

We are shocked. We are angry. We are grief-stricken. We are motivated to do something to move forward.

We have a profound sense of sadness and deepest heartfelt sympathy for those in pain and grief in the aftermath of the campus violence at Virginia Tech. We have the utmost respect for those crisis managers and emergency responders who worked bravely and diligently during the shocking events at Virginia Tech. It is far too early to reach final conclusions about failures; the de-briefing of this particular event will unfold in the coming months and years. We can, however, as campus security personnel, college and university administrators, business continuity planners, emergency notification service providers, and members of the global community, seek to begin to learn from the events of April 16 in order to work more diligently to prevent horrific and extensive tragic events like the Virginia Tech massacre from happening again. In fact, we have an obligation to do so. Join 3n and distinguished crisis communications expert, author, consultant, and educator, Dr. Robert C. Chandler of Pepperdine University, as we chronicle the sequence of crisis management and communication events on April 16 at Virginia Tech and identify insights for our own responding to and mitigating risk in such a crisis and ways for improving our crisis communication performance.
Discussion topics include:


Case-study analysis of the sequence of events at Virginia Tech
Information processing and decision-making in a crisis
Communicating in a crisis – what you say, how you say it, when you say it
Emergency notification systems for colleges and universities
Importance and role of multi-channel communications in a crisis

This webinar will include a 15-minute Q&A session.

About Robert C. Chandler, Ph.D., Pepperdine University
Dr. Robert Chandler is a recognized expert on organizational behavior and crisis communication with research expertise focusing on issues such as crisis leadership, crisis teams, crisis decision-making and behavior, human factors during organizational crises, and organizational communication assessment. He has written more than 75 papers and published articles and has authored three books. Dr. Chandler is the Blanche E. Seaver Professor and Chair of the Communication Division in the Center for Communication and Business at Pepperdine University.

Enroll:
https://3nonline.webex.com/mw0304l/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=3nonline

Article sponsored by Criminal Justice online leadership as well as police and military personnel who have authored books.

Gates, Jordanian King Express Condolences to Virginia Tech

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

April 17, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today expressed condolences to the victims and families of yesterday's mass shooting that killed 33 people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in Blacksburg, Va. Gates's comments came as he finished a meeting here with Jordan's King Abdallah. "His Majesty expressed his condolences for the tragedy at Virginia Tech," Gates said.

The secretary said he has a special understanding of what universities go through in the wake of tragedy of this magnitude.

"I would just add personally that as a recent president of a university that only about seven and a half years ago had its own tragedy, when 12 students were killed when the bonfire collapsed at Texas A&M, perhaps more than most I can understand the horror and the emotions at Virginia Tech and extend my personal condolences to the students and the faculty and staff there," he said in a news conference.

Gates was interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University when a massive pile of logs collapsed Nov. 18, 1999, as students were preparing for a 90-year tradition on the eve of the school's annual football game against its archrival, the University of Texas. Twelve students died and 27 more were injured. Gates later served four years as the university's president before becoming secretary of defense in December 2006.

"Knowing the lasting impact of the 1999 bonfire collapse at Texas A&M, I can only imagine the emotional impact of what has happened at Virginia Tech," he said.
Authorities today identified the gunman at Virginia Tech as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student from South Korea.

Cho killed 30 people in Norris Hall, an academic building, before killing himself. University officials said they were still trying to determine if Cho was responsible for an earlier shooting at a dormitory that left two dead; however, ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was also used at the dorm.

Article sponsored by Criminal Justice online leadership as well as police and military personnel who have authored books.