Statement of Purpose

Our Purpose is to serve and protect the students, faculty, staff and visitors of Ferris State University. To further the academic pursuits of FSU in two ways: actually keeping people and property safe and in helping to create an environment where people feel completely safe.

• Emergencies:
  Dial 911
• Non-Emergency Contact:
  (231) 591-5000
• Campus Crime Hotline:
  (231) 591-5900

Director's Message

Public Safety has taken the spotlight at Ferris during 2008, primarily in response to lessons learned when the two detailed reports of the Virginia Tech tragedy were shared with the world. President Eisler directed that three task forces be formed and their work serve as the foundation for the FSU preparedness effort. The three task force areas of study are safety infrastructure, behaviors of concern and emergency communications.

Some sample projects showcasing the work of these task forces are active shooter response and prevention, outdoor safety alerts and broadcasts, text messaging, threat assessing and managing, etc. The single most important overarching effort has been in the realm of community awareness and team training.

An excellent commercially developed tool for the training part of this project has been the DVD "Shots Fired" When Lightning Strikes. This video was created to help share the methods for protecting oneself until help arrives. A primary theme of this active shooter video is to teach the viewer the technique of developing a “survival mindset”, much as police officers and soldiers are taught.

Behaviors of concern are being addressed in multiple ways to prepare university professionals in assessing problems and managing any ones that may surface. Specialists are being consulted to further develop our university’s Behavior Review Team and for expert development of a Threat Assessment/Management Team.

Technological advances have come in several forms, thus making the task of notifying the university community of emergencies much more effective. We are incorporating the technologies of City Watch, an electronic notification system using texts and telephoning to give basic information quickly and alert people to seek more details in many of our other sources. We have more than quadrupled the number of emergency blue light phones, many of which are paired with card accessing to residence halls as well. We are addressing outdoor notifying by incorporating seven elevated locations that give siren and verbal warning information in a campus-wide coverage never existing before to this degree.

This ambitious effort is being met by the commitment of many throughout the University. One additional way to assure this complex process is implemented in a timely and professional fashion is through the support of the newly appointed Assistant Director of Emergency Management, Tricia Walding-Smith. We welcome her!

Finally, our FSU Department of Public Safety has reached a milestone. We are 50 Years in service to this community as of October 22, 2008. Much has changed in the world and in our agency since 1958 but one thing remains and that is our commitment to service and protection.

MJ Bledsoe, Director of Public Safety
Updated: October 20, 2008