Several universities nationwide have suffered violence at the hands of students ? in particular the Virginia Tech shooting, which had its one-year anniversary last month. The Examiner interviewed Cmdr. Morgan Jones, who is in charge of security at Bancroft Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, about the safety of the midshipmen and their Annapolis campus. Academy officials said no known threats to midshipmen have been reported.
How have incidents like the Virginia Tech shooting influenced changes in the academy?s security policies?
It?s hard to compare us to a university, because we are a military institution.
We naturally have heightened security.
Most of our security changes came not as a result of Virginia Tech, but from 9/11, and even before then.
We did perform a multiunit drill that was kind of like a Virginia Tech scenario if it happened in Bancroft Hall [the dormitory].
It gave us a chance to see how midshipmen respond to that kind of situation.
We?re always looking for ways to improve response and security.
What kind of security measures are in place at Bancroft Hall?
What we are doing here is standard across the fleet. It?s called Force Protection Force.
We are implementing education and training of midshipmen.
Just as they would in the fleet, the midshipmen have to be vigilant of their surroundings, and that?s what we are training them to do.
We are looking into controlled entry into Bancroft Hall, as well as video monitoring.
Midshipmen already wear ID badges, just as they would in the fleet.
We have an e-mail system that sends out alerts … and cell phones if we need to send out an urgent message.
What other security measures are there at other parts of the academy, considering there is a naval station across the river from the campus?
For security reasons, we cannot discuss that
