We had chance to speak with Fred Bealefeld about his in-classroom experience with the March 31, 2014 lockdown at Stevenson University. Fred is a remarkable individual whose 31-year career in law enforcement included serving as Police Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department. Since the start of his tenure as Commissioner in 2007, Fred lead an unprecedented decrease in crime and homicides in the City of Baltimore. Between retirement from the force in 2012 and joining UnderArmour as Chief Security Officer, Fred was a member of the faculty at Stevenson University in Maryland. It was during that time the campus was placed under lockdown when individuals with shotguns were identified near the campus. Omnilert: What happened during the lockdown on March 31st? Bealefeld: The incident occurred at the new Stevenson campus. I was in the middle of teaching a class when the lockdown occurred. It was in the early afternoon when we received the first alert. I had about 30 undergrads in that class. Most of them were freshmen and sophomores. Omnilert: Tell us about the notification that you received. Bealefeld: I was in the middle of my lecture and I used the PowerPoint system. Most of my lectures were constructed around PowerPoint and projected onto a screen using the university’s computer network. We have a policy; I have a policy, of no cell phones during class. All the students had their cell phones put away. While I was giving the lecture an alert came over the screen onto the projector with my PowerPoint — “Active shooter alert with directions to shelter in place.” We all read it at the same time. My first thought was that it was a drill. I went quickly to the computer terminal and saw that there was a flashing alert there. My phone and the students’ phones all started activating with the same message. I’d say from the first couple seconds of thinking that it was a drill to less than 10 seconds understanding that it was real, we started to move and take action to make ourselves safe. I had a lot of experience being on the other side of those alerts but no experience being on the inside of those alerts. Omnilert: You were on the other side of the incident. What happened inside your classroom? Bealefeld: So all my experience and training was as a responder, not as a recipient. Not […]
The post Seven Questions with Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld appeared first on Critical Mass Communications Simplified..