By Brian Livingston
While seeking the top law enforcement position on the campus of Meridian Community College, Shane Williams made it clear that if administrators were looking for a guarantee that nothing was going to happen then he may not be their man.
But if they wanted someone who was motivated and proactive in trying to minimize the security risks that all college campuses face today, then he was perfect for the job. So it is obvious the leaders of MCC liked what they saw in Williams who has taken over as chief of the campus police force. Now it is up to Williams to put into motion those ideas he discussed while interviewing for the job.
"The college campus, especially one such as this, is a unique environment in which to provide safety," said
Williams. "You have so many people who come and go on any given day. You are situated in the middle of a metropolitan area where anyone can gain access to the campus very quickly. So a campus police department has to be well motivated, diligent and up to speed on qualifications and training. This is a challenging law enforcement post."
To help in mapping out his plan on how best to utilize his police force comprising of 10 full-time officers and a half dozen part-time officers, Williams went to the police officers at Virginia Tech University. In April of 2007, the Blacksburg, Va. campus suffered the worst school shooting incident in this country's history when Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide. Williams reasoned if any campus police department is ahead of the curve in security for its students and faculty it would be at Virginia Tech.
One of those programs implemented by Virginia Tech is RAD, or Rape Aggression Defense. Unlike many self defense programs, which mix martial arts and other technically intricate disciplines, RAD teaches basic self defense techniques, said Williams.
"You can't take a judo class for a semester and expect anyone a year from now when they are faced with an adversary to remember what they learned," said Williams. "RAD teaches simple, easy to remember moves that are effective the next day, next month or forever."
It is these types of programs, approved by MCC administrators such as Dr. Scott Elliott, that have many people on campus excited.
"Safety and security on college campuses across America is an issue that has demanded a heightened level of awareness and readiness," said Elliott recently. "Shane’s considerable and diverse experience in law enforcement makes him a very proactive leader. Our foremost goal is to make MCC the safest environment possible for our students and our staff."
Williams said an alcohol awareness program as well as a Student Police Academy are also on the horizon. He said there is a great deal of attention on college campuses to curtail or stop altogether the influences alcohol has put on students. Williams said there is an urgent need to turn the college campuses across the nation back into learning institutions and away from party houses.
"I envision us taking students out on the baseball field, setting up safety cones, putting these students in a golf cart and asking them to drive through the course while wearing the drunk driver goggles that simulates an impaired driver's vision," Williams said.
Williams also hopes he will see the success of the Student Police Academy grown at MCC as it has in other colleges.
"The students love this program and many decide they want to go into law enforcement," Williams said. "That's a win-win situation as far as I'm concerned."
There is also the issue of upgrading and deploying more surveillance cameras throughout the campus to give officers a birds-eye view of what is happening. But ultimately Williams wants his officers to be more visible around campus to instill that sense of safety.
"But I wouldn't be sitting here talking about all this if it weren't for the support of the administrators of MCC," Williams said of Dean Sande Atkinson, Dean Soraye Weldon, MCC VP Barbara Jones and Elliott.
"They have supported a lot of my ideas," Williams said. "Now we need to make them happen and turn them into successes."
