D.C. and campus police increased their presence around AU's campus in recent days in response to government-issued requests for additional security in connection with the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to Public Safety Director Michael McNair.
Public Safety and Metropolitan Police Department officers were stationed at all of the major gates to campus beginning Monday and continued to be stationed on-campus as late as Wednesday afternoon. The extra police presence came in response to FBI and Homeland Security directives for all law enforcement agencies to increase their presence as a precaution during the days surrounding Sept. 11.
The two federal agencies decided to issue the directives as an alternative to raising the Homeland Security Advisory System threat level from Elevated/Yellow to High/Orange, McNair said.
Public Safety decided not to send out an e-mail discussing the increased police presence to keep from disclosing all of its security procedures to the public, McNair said.
"I didn't see the need to specifically outline what we were doing," he said. "We didn't want to tip our hand too much."
Public Safety also thought it was a good idea to increase its presence on-campus because of recent threats against universities across the country, he said.
On Aug. 28, the Washington College of Law received three e-mailed bomb threats. Several other colleges and universities had also received similar e-mail threats around the same time period. Public Safety searched the WCL building after classes had ended for the day and found no suspicious devices. The e-mail threats at the other universities were also hoaxes, The Eagle previously reported.
Although there were rumors of further threats against the university, Public Safety had not actually received any credible threats since the Aug. 28 bomb threat e-mails, McNair said.
President Neil Kerwin sent an e-mail to the AU community on Sept. 5, asking members of the community to be vigilant and become more familiar with campus emergency procedures. Kerwin's e-mail was another reason Public Safety didn't explain the increased security.
Charissa Pratt, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said she noticed the police presence on-campus.
"I noticed that there were a few more police cars around the campus, and I didn't know exactly what was going on," she said. "I didn't really think too much of it though."
The attention some people gave to the added police officers on-campus was a good thing, McNair said.
"I'm glad people have noticed an increased presence," he said. "That's a good thing. I think it's helped increase people's awareness of their surroundings."
The increased police presence on-campus showed Public Safety took additional interest in keeping the campus safe, said Student Government President Joe Vidulich.
"Having the police cars at the campus entrances shows that Public Safety is being vigilant," he said.
