Chief (Ret.) Frank Straub, Ph.D., of the Police Foundation, delivers the keynote address at the Campus Safety Conference East. (Photo by: Police Foundation)
Hundreds of school administrators and public safety officials, including law enforcement and security professionals, convene for a 2-day conference to discuss solutions to campus safety.
July 19, 2018, WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a speech titled, “Ripples of Hope: Building Multi-Discipline Collaboration to Prevent School Violence,” Dr. Frank Straub of the Police Foundation spoke to a room full of public safety professionals and others responsible for the safety of campuses across the United States. Chief (Ret.) Straub, a 30-year veteran of local and federal law enforcement and survivor of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, has “seen things people aren’t supposed to see” and can relate to the pain of those who have been affected by mass violence.
Straub’s moving keynote address commenced the Campus Safety Conference East, a 2-day intensive conference and trainings for administrators and public safety officials, technology directors, risk managers, security professionals, and law enforcement executives from all over the country looking for solutions to campus safety, security, emergency management and technology challenges.
At the conference, attendees hear from leading safety and security experts, learn strategies and tactics to reduce risk and improve incident response, learn about best practices and procedures for emergency response, receive actionable items that can be implemented immediately on campus, discover how to be better prepared for emergency situations, and make campuses safer by protecting students and faculty by preventing a crisis before it occurs.
Dr. Straub drew attention to the importance of school officials, law enforcement, policy makers, government leaders, public safety, security, and community members working together to help improve school safety.
“Protecting our nation’s schools and managing and responding to acts of violence is a shared responsibility,” said Straub. “We have to work together and collaborate to find solutions. Our children deserve to learn in safe environments.”
Straub advocated for intervening and providing more mental health services and resources to children who may be at risk of carrying out acts of violence.
Straub also highlighted several initiatives he is leading at the Police Foundation — a national non-profit, independent, non-partisan research organization dedicated to improving policing through innovation and science — and how these initiatives relate to enhancing safety at schools. These initiatives include the Averted School Violence Database, Center for Mass Violence Response Studies, After Action Assessments/Critical Incident Reviews, and a state-by-state legislative review of school facility security policies.
“By working together to improve security measures, I am optimistic we can restore a sense of safety in our schools.”
Frank G. Straub, Ph.D., is Director of Strategic Studies at the Police Foundation, a non-profit organization that studies ways to improve policing in the United States. Dr. Straub, leads the newly established Center for Mass Violence Response Studies, and has directed in-depth studies of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the Kalamazoo mass shooting, and the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. He is currently leading a review of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
He is a 30-year veteran of federal and local law enforcement, having served as the police chief in Spokane, Washington; the Public Safety Director in Indianapolis; the Public Safety Commissioner in White Plains, New York; and the New York City Police Department’s Deputy Commissioner of Training and Assistant Commissioner for Counterterrorism. He also served as a member of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force during his tenure with the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Dr. Straub is a non-resident fellow at West Point’s Center for Combatting Terrorism providing expert advice regarding the domestic law enforcement response to terrorism and acts of mass public violence.
“Chief Engells has led our Police Department since 2010, and has been part of the UT System family for more than 34 years. Under his dynamic leadership, UTMB became the first UT System police department to achieve national accreditation for excellence from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). He was named the inaugural UT System Police Chief of the Year in 2011 and again in 2014, and also earned “Law Enforcement Administrator of the Year” by the Texas Association of College and University Police Administrators. More recently, Chief Engells achieved international recognition for his expertise in biosecurity.
terrorist attack on American soil since September 11, 2001. This Critical Incident Review provides a detailed overview of current active shooter and hostage negotiation protocols within the context of a terrorist event; leadership and interagency relationships; tactical response and command and control; equipment and training; emergency medical care; officer safety and post-event responder wellness; post-incident investigation; media and public information; and, community engagement.