At High Point University in High Point, North Carolina, the tag line is “Every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.
Nine people were killed during a shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College on Thursday. The shooter, a 26-year-old student, was killed in a shootout with law enforcement.
In North Carolina, High Point University is in its tenth year of a transition into a private, boutique university, and the security department is not exempt from the changes impacting the school. When Jeff Karpovich, CPP, CHPA, joined High Point University as its chief of Security, there were just 12 employees in the division and 62 surveillance cameras. Now, seven years later, he is responsible for 120 employees across three departments, managing 82 uniformed security officers for the school and working with approximately 900 surveillance cameras.
Sending your child to college is both an exciting and emotional time. As with any rite of passage, the separation and the transition to a new environment has the potential to propagate safety and security concerns for both parents and future students.