A string of bomb threats at the University of Pittsburgh in the last two months has led the institution to put its emergency plan into practice.

Though bomb threats happen frequently at many academic institutions across the country, Department of Public Safety Chief Tony Callisto said security at Syracuse University has not been affected by the bomb threats at Pitt.

‘We have a fairly comprehensive plan to deal with bomb threats,’ Callisto said. ‘We’re fully prepared with our patrol staff and our communications staff to actually respond to, and deal with, these kinds of situations instantly.’

Callisto said the university has not had a bomb threat during his six-and-a-half-year tenure, but about four years ago, area high schools experienced a succession of three dozen bomb threats.

‘None of them came to our university, but it became a very common problem,’ Callisto said. ‘So everybody kind of looked at their protocols at that point to make sure that they were up to snuff.’

Pitt has received dozens of bomb threats since mid-February, causing many buildings to be evacuated and heightened security on campus. The first threats were found written in campus bathrooms, but later threats have arrived via email.

Pitt’s students and faculty now need their school IDs to get into campus buildings and bags are searched before entry. No bombs have been found and no one has been injured, according to an April 9 CBS News article.

SU’s procedures for bomb threats as well as other campus emergencies can be found in the Emergency Reference Guide on the SU website. If there is a bomb threat, individuals should immediately leave the area and call DPS right away. DPS will respond and investigate the threat, Callisto said.

In the event of a bomb threat, the Syracuse Police Department would work with DPS. If a device or simulated device were found, the SPD bomb squad would remove it. True threats would also be investigated by SPD detectives, said SPD spokesman Sgt. Tom Connellan in an email.

Because most threats are received by law enforcement centers, DPS dispatchers have specific protocol on how to respond to these callers. Officers also have procedures that detail how they should respond and what they should do when they arrive at the scene, Callisto said.

SU’s Orange Alert system would not notify students and staff unless a bomb threat is verified. DPS would respond to the scene first to determine if the threat was real. If the threat was real or if there was any uncertainty, then the Orange Alert system would be used to notify the SU community, Callisto said.

‘The last thing we’re going to use Orange Alert for is anything that’s not verified,’ he said.

Pitt has a system similar to Orange Alert known as the Emergency Notification Service, which also alerts its subscribers of emergencies on campus by calls, text and email, according to the University of Pittsburgh website.

The bomb threats have fundamentally changed life on Pitt’s campus. While many students have returned home because of the threats, others have stayed, opting to take shelter at the off-campus apartments of friends during nighttime evacuations. Most exams are now take-home, lectures are posted online and backup plans are in place in case a final is disrupted by a threat, according to an April 15 Pittsburgh-Tribune Review article.

Callisto said it is important to remember none of the bomb threats in Syracuse four years ago or any of the Pitt bomb threats turned out to be real. Though most threats are merely pranks, attempts to get attention or done out of aggravation, Callisto said DPS fully investigates all threats.

‘We take every one of them seriously,’ he said. ‘We’re going to treat it like it’s real until we can verify that it isn’t.’

jliannet@syr.edu 

Published on April 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta