Subcommittee formed to study violence

The UW Police Department is leading the effort to form a subcommittee that will investigate matters of workplace violence, and offer education geared to stop violent acts before they start.

The Workplace Violence Subcommittee has been formed under the direction of the Campus Security Advisory Committee, which is chaired by UW Chief of Police Vicky Peltzer. The subcommittee will advise on a training program - which will help employees identify warning signs and familiarize them with UW policy regarding violence and how to report incidents - for campus newcomers and veterans alike. Jon Brouelette, a captain with the UWPD, is in charge of organizing the subcommittee. In addition to helping with education, he said the group will help streamline the evaluation, tracking and reporting processes.

“We all recognize the need to have a centralized process,” Brouelette said. “There’s a lot of expertise and a lot of assets on this campus. What we’re trying to do is pull it all together under one cover.”

Committee members will include: Brouelette; John Schultz, UWPD; Val Olivers, Human Resources; Steve Olswang, Office of the Provost; Karen VanDusen, Environmental Health and Safety; Stephanie Steppe, Health Sciences; Deb Costar, Student Affairs; Kathleen Bernhard, UW Bothell; Catherine Broom, UW Medical Center; Sara Maxwell, State Employee Advisory Service; Dary Hawkins, Harborview Medical Center Security; Nicki McCraw, Risk Management; Judy Mims, Attorney General’s Office; and L.G. Blanchard, Health Sciences News and Information.

Initially the group will have six specific goals:

• Advise on a campus-wide training program;

• Develop a process for reporting incidents and potential problems;

• Identify an assessment team to analyze information and develop a plan to address identified problems;

• Identify units on campus to implement action plans or respond to reports of violence;

• Identify a “critical incident review team” to review and evaluate responses to violent incidents; and

• Identify a “critical incident stress management team” that will provide mental health support.

Brouelette and Peltzer said a number of different campus groups already have some of the processes in place, some of those being very effective. The idea of the subcommittee is to pull all those groups together under one large umbrella, according to Peltzer and Brouelette.

“What this group will do is formalize many of the processes and get them out to the larger campus community,” Peltzer said.

For example, some campus groups have an effective debriefing plan to be used following an incident of workplace violence. The subcommittee will be charged with formalizing that process for the entire campus.

The ultimate goal, Brouelette said, is to mobilize the campus so that action can be taken before violence occurs.

“We know how to track incidents,” he said. “We take a look at the potential for violence and, more than anything, we want to be ahead of any incident. The idea is to prevent anything from happening in the first place.”

Brouelette said the committee will generate a preliminary report by October. That report will take into account, among other things, the recent shooting incident at the UW Medical Center. ¶

Steve Hill