In 2018, a forum sponsored by the National Center for Campus Public Safety (INCCPS) was held in Charlotte, North Carolina, with campus safety leaders and subject-matter experts attending to discuss campus safety's role and strategies for preventing violence in college and university campus communities.
A total of 22 campus safety leaders came from 20 institutions of higher education (IHEs) across the country, including IHE chiefs of police and campus safety administrators. Forum participants identified four areas that pose special strategic challenges in efforts to prevent campus violence. One challenge involves weak partnerships on and off campus, which stalls and stifles cooperative efforts and the creation of written agreements with key partners. A second challenge involves insufficient training in the knowledge and skill needed to prevent and respond to violence, especially in relation to cooperative action by local police and campus safety teams. A third challenge is insufficient funding of safety initiatives due to lack of administrative prioritizing of safety initiatives. A fourth challenge identified by forum participants is the achievement of continuity and after-action reporting and assessment as input for improving safety initiatives. In addressing these challenges, forum participants identified and discussed actions by campus safety teams, IHE leaders, and IHEs individually and as a whole that are required to upgrade the resources, training, planning, and partnerships needed to prevent and respond effectively to campus violence and natural disasters. Appended list of forum participants