California Lutheran University

Fred Miller, California Lutheran University

Fred Miller knows security. A former FBI agent, Miller is California Lutheran University’s Director of Public Safety responsible for the well-being of the campus community of nearly 4,000 students, faculty, staff, and administrators. California Lutheran University (CLU) hosts a diverse population with students originating from 43 states and 47 countries. Approximately two-thirds of CLU’s undergraduate students live on campus.

Preparing for the Worst

In January 2008, Miller conducted a campus-wide active shooter drill in conjunction with the Ventura County Sheriff SWAT team, Sheriff’s Department, hostage negotiators, K-9 Unit, bomb squad, Los Robles Community Hospital, six units of the Ventura County Fire Department, and AMR Ambulance Service. The Everbridge Aware system was a cornerstone in CLU’s emergency communications. The drill served its purpose – highlighting small-but-important, easy-to-overlook details and uncovering unknown flaws in the response plan. Miller took the lessons learned from the exercise and adjusted CLU’s emergency response plan accordingly. Little did he know that in less than a year he would activate the plan in a real situation.

A Student is Attacked

At 9:30 am on December 16, 2008 campus security received a call from a female student who had been attacked by a stranger on the bridge between the main campus and the sports complex. The student fought off the attacker and ran to safety, but the location of the suspect was unknown. Miller leaped into action, sending out a notification to the campus community to alert them to the situation via text messaging, mobile phones, office phones, and email. Students, faculty, and staff were contacted during the first five minutes of the broadcast with a second wave of messages being delivered within eight minutes of the broadcast initiation. At the end of the eight-minute broadcast, 25,000 messages had been sent.

Turning the Campus into the Eyes and Ears of Security

Getting the word out quickly alerted students and others to be extra cautious and gave Miller and the police an added advantage—far more eyes and ears out looking for the perpetrator. Before having the Everbridge system in place, CLU used email as its primary notification tool, but most people did not check email frequently enough to rely on it. Calling people one by one would have taken hours and distracted important team members from managing the task at hand—finding the suspect at large.

"We couldn’t have alerted the campus so quickly to the attack without the Everbridge system. It would have taken much too long to be practical. By using the Everbridge system, we were able to instantly alert the campus community and recruit their help."
– Fred Miller, Director of Public Safety, California Lutheran University

The Community Responds with Praise

Due to Miller’s quick actions and proactive communication, the campus community responded positively to the university’s handling of the incident. CLU received no complaints that people were not notified quickly enough about the incident on campus, but instead received praise for its efforts to keep students and staff members safe.

"My daughter goes to CLU and CLU Security did an excellent job of notifying all of the students - e-mail, phone and text message. Good job CLU!"
– CLU parent, as posted in the Ventura County Star

"I am a student at CLU and the system went into effect at 10:00. We received emails, phone calls and text messages. I was astonished at the quickness of this system."
– CLU student, as posted in the Ventura County Star

Peer-to-Peer: Fred’s Advice

• Conduct a realistic drill using the Everbridge system. You’ll uncover all the things you thought you knew but didn’t.
• Don’t forget to include Administration on notifications. They need to know what’s going on at all times.
• Remember that the campus community can be your eyes and ears, especially the maintenance and grounds staff.