Immediately following Monday afternoon’s bombings at the Boston Marathon, the university police increased security measures on campus after communication with Boston law enforcement officials.
Since Monday’s attack, additional police officers, both in uniform and in plainclothes, have patrolled the Brandeis campus. Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said officers received instant communication of the bombings from law enforcement officials, as well as from extraneous websites.
“We are monitoring informational emails and bulletins from city, state and federal law enforcement sources in addition to information from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL),” Callahan wrote in an email. “We have reviewed our staffing levels and added officers to shifts for foot and vehicular patrols. We will assess the need to continue any additional staff deployments based on updates that we receive from law enforcement sources.”
University police are tasked with responding to national, state, local and campus safety concerns and must be prepared to protect students, faculty and staff alike on extremely short notice. For this reason, when the safety of Brandeis and the surrounding community is threatened, plainclothes officers are deployed in order to act as “additional eyes and ears for the Department, and patrol on foot and report about any concerns,” Callahan wrote.
According to Callahan, campus security measures have increased since September 11, 2001, in response to direction from law enforcement sources.
“Public safety at Brandeis is an evolving system where we review all safety related concerns which may impact our community. We are always proactive in our approach with public safety in addition to communicating with our community,” Callahan wrote.
The Boston Marathon has been a widely celebrated event since its start in 1897. With strong international and local support, the city of Boston remains resilient in lieu of Monday’s attack.
In an interview with The Hoot, President Fred Lawrence spoke about Brandeis’ security, ensuring that all community members should continue to feel safe.
“I think our security here is quite good. You try to be as careful as you can. We live in dangerous times. Who would have thought this would have happened yesterday?” Lawrence said. “We are taking extra steps with our public safety to step up the security, and as always, we want to reexamine our communication and make it even better the next time to put information out as fast as possible.”
