University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

MEDIA RELEASE

CSUN Public Safety Creates Threat Management Unit

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Sept. 7, 2007) — The tragic events at Virginia Tech last April and the national dialogue that followed underscore the importance of campus safety.

Cal State Northridge’s Department of Public Safety has formulized a Threat Management Unit in an effort to help university officials evaluate the dangers posed by persons whose actions may raise alarm, or at least concern, in other members of the campus community.

"The ability for the university police to be able to provide assessments of just how dangerous persons of concern within the campus community may be is vital to an overall campus safety and security plan," said CSUN Police Chief Anne P. Glavin, who created a similar unit while she was chief of police at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998. "Identifying individuals who require the intervention of support services such as counseling is critical in managing individuals with behavioral concerns or those who are spiraling downward due to problems in their lives."

The newly formed Threat Management Unit is charged with evaluating all reported incidents of workplace violence, domestic violence or fear of violence. Officers will conduct extensive investigations into reported incidents and take appropriate steps to reduce or eliminate possible hazards to personal safety and or property.

The specialized unit is modeled after an approach to threat assessment utilized by the U.S. Secret Service. Three university police officers are assigned full time to the unit on an "as needed" basis.

California State University, Northridge has 34,500 full- and part-time students and offers 62 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.