On Sunday, August 4 ^th, the FBI held a phone call with federal, state, and local partners discussing the mass casualty incidents that happened over the weekend in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. As a follow up, the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement, which is responsible for providing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with primary coordination, liaison, and advocacy for state, local, tribal, territorial, and campus law enforcement agencies, emailed a compilation of law enforcement sensitive (LES) information from both incidents and a suite of products and services made available by federal partners. In order to access these LES and/or For Official Use Only (FOUO) materials, law enforcement officials are encouraged to join the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN). Many applicants are sworn police officers; however, non-sworn campus safety officers who are sponsored by their local municipal police department may be eligible for access to specific communities. Campus safety and police officers are strongly encouraged to apply for HSIN access and membership to the appropriate HSIN community.  

September is National Campus Fire Safety Month (NCSFM), a time to raise awareness among parents, students, administrators, and legislators about the importance of fire safety. Now in its fifteenth year, and  proclaimed annually by several states, NCFSM is coordinated each year by Massachusetts-based  Campus Firewatch on behalf of parents who have lost children in college-related fires.

 

Campus Firewatch recently announced that a resolution was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Bill Pascrell (NJ) and Peter King (NY),co-chairs of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, to officially recognize September as NCFSM. In addition to educating students, the resolution calls for increasing the level of fire safety in both on- and off-campus housing through the installation of smoke alarms, fire alarm systems and sprinkler systems.