by Emily Snell | Aug 27, 2012 | News Slider
Two armed Campus Security and Safety officers are on patrol during every shift this semester. Brad Wyatt, director of security, and Phil Ellenburg, Lipscomb’s general counsel, said the university has been working on the arming process for a few years. “For the last five years, we’ve been really intentional about upgrading all of our security and safety, emergency planning, everything across the board for the institution,” Ellenburg said. “We’re trying to improve and increase our professionalism. Over the last five years a lot of improvements have been made, but over the last two years, we’ve had a very intentional process where we’ve done several things, and the arming component was a part of that whole process.” Ellenburg said there weren’t specific events that prompted the decision to begin the armed patrols over the summer, rather it was “a normal step in enhanced service.” Wyatt said Lipscomb’s security and safety department, in recent years, intentionally has been hiring officers who would fit the qualifications for an armed officer. The department created a “Security Officer II” position, which requires an advanced security background for example as a police officer, military police officer, armed hospital or prison security officer. Wyatt and Ellenburg said all of the university’s security officers are licensed with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, which handles both unarmed and armed security licensing. “Our internal policies as far as training and standards for officers are a lot higher than the baseline for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance,” Ellenburg said. In addition to licensing, Lipscomb hired a security expert from the Boston area to analyze the campus...
