Detective Terry Trail of the SMU police department takes part in the simulated lock-down of Fondren Library Friday. Armed with an air horn, Trail assumed the role of a lone gunman in order to illustrate proper safety procedure. (Karissa Jobman/The Daily Campus)

With the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 a few days away, places across the United States are dedicating the month of September to emergency preparedness. SMU is part of this effort and started to take action Friday in Fondren Library.

At 8 a.m., a small group of students, faculty and staff gathered to participate in the first lockdown exercise at a North Texas university.

Everyone congregated in Fondren Library Link where participants were asked to introduce themselves and explain why they were there. Faculty and staff members came from all areas of campus — Simmons Hall to SMU Dining.

A small group of non-SMU faculty from area colleges also participated to critique the exercise.

Scenarios were given to all participants, providing them with background information.

Participates were then asked to act like they normally would when they were in Fondren. Suddenly, a strange person would then come through the building, simulating an intruder.

The intruder was to fire a foghorn to simulate gunshots, and people were then supposed to “act.”

The exercise lasted about 10 minutes before SMU PD arrived on the scene. Although the exercise was brief, an hour was spent on the debrief where participants were allowed to share stories and ask questions.

Terry Trail, member of SMU PD, acted as the shooter and entered the building from the basement, making his way up all four floors of the library. Trail talked about his experience from a police perspective.

“Overall, it went really well,” he said. “For the most part, everyone got where they needed to be from my point of view.”

At one point, Trail said someone played hide-and-seek with him on the fourth floor between the stacks, but that wouldn’t have happened if he had an automatic weapon. He said that person would have been dead.

“Know where you’re going and get there,” he said. “Don’t play circle games.”

From start to finish, seven shots were fired in total, symbolizing the number of times Trail saw people.

Although the participants knew they were taking part in an exercise, some still felt a sense of anxiety.

“I knew it was an exercise, but it was hard to kind of differentiate my thoughts,” Michelle Hahn, a staff member of Fondren Library, said. “You knew what to expect, but you didn’t know what to expect at the same time. Being in the moment was totally different than actually planning.”

A number of problems were discovered from the exercise. Poor cell phone service in the basement of Fondren hindered the participant who first saw the intruder from calling SMU PD.

Another problem addressed was the automatic lights from offices, something that could draw attention when people try to hide.

Some participants were confused on how to lock office doors and janitor closets.

It was also discovered that the PA system in the library could not be heard in the restrooms and that opening an emergency door might trigger alarms in the rest of the building, causing others who are hiding to “escape,” bringing them closer to danger.

In Fondren, the alarms are specific to the door, not the building, but this may not the case in other buildings at SMU.

Members of SMU’s Emergency Preparedness Team appreciated the honest verbal feedback.

“This exercise was meant to provide us information on your response efforts, our alert notification to you and your notification to dispatch,” Lisa Morris, emergency management specialist, said.

All participants were also asked to fill out an evaluation sheet and add additional comments.

Safety points that were reiterated throughout the debrief were to spread out when hiding, stay in your hiding spot until you get the all clear, act fast and stay quiet.

Although the numbers were small in the drill, participants believed others would benefit from the exercise.

“I definitely think everyone on campus should go [through something like this],” Hahn said. “Faculty, staff and students should definitely go through it to have that chance to give it a try and to practice.”