An Audit Report on Campus Safety and Security Emergency Management Plans at Texas Public Universities
October 2008
Report Number 09-009
Overall Conclusion
Texas's 35 public universities (universities) have developed emergency management plans for various potential hazards. The concepts addressed in these plans and the implementation statuses of the plans differ among the universities. State requirements are unclear as to whether universities are required to adopt National Incident Management System (NIMS) standards, which are designed to provide a consistent approach to emergency management among differing agencies and institutions. Additionally, the State does not have emergency management requirements for higher education institutions or a central point of authority specific to emergency management at higher education institutions to standardize, coordinate, and monitor emergency preparedness at the institutions.
The 35 universities have identified dozens of potential hazards for which to plan a response, such as threats of violence, weather, health emergencies, and transportation accidents. Among the events affecting Texas public universities from January 2008 through August 2008 were a campus lockdown, a tropical storm, hurricanes, infectious disease cases, and a serious boating accident that resulted in a death.
The State's 35 public universities reported that 1,100 crimes were committed on or around their campuses in 2006. These reported crimes included 657 burglaries, 96 aggravated assaults, and 67 sex offenses. Because of the variety of potential hazards, it is important that universities take an all-hazard approach to emergency planning and perform campus-specific risk assessments, testing, and monitoring to increase the likelihood of an appropriate response in the event of an actual emergency.
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