ASU prepares for real threat

By Lagena McBride, Herald Staff

The University Police Department and Arkansas State University are prepared in case an anthrax attack does occur.

Three weeks before the attack on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, three UPD police officers attended a Hazardous Material Awareness certified class. This course, conducted by the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, updated the officers' training in responding to hazardous material.

According to Archer, this course did help when the UPD was faced with these anthrax hoaxes.

UPD Assistant Chief Gary Dennis put together a special response kit, which includes dust masks, gloves, re-sealable bags and a small vacuum cleaner for the UPD to clean up materials with.

If an anthrax attack or credible scare did occur, the police department would be ready, Archer said.

"We would do a normal evacuation, and we would contact the local fire department," Archer said. "The bad part about all of this is if there was an actual, credible scare we would have to decontaminate everyone involved. We're talking stripped, hosed down, clothes bagged. That is very time-consuming. It is cold weather outside, and I doubt we would find any hot water anywhere close.

"That is why we would take a hoax so seriously because the man hours, the time and cost alone, and not to mention the terror factor that that would place people in.

"We have policies, procedures and guidelines that we would follow to ensure the safety of the campus and the community as a whole," Archer said.