Campus carry is now in effect on all Texas higher education campuses. We wanted to know how the new law effects university police and their ability to protect everyone on campus.
Patrick Coggins, Midwestern State University’s Chief of Police, said training policies have changed.
The biggest change for officers is their mindset responding to calls, especially if an active shooting situation were to occur involving a good guy with a gun.
“Our worst nightmare is to have a legal handgun license holder be identified as one of the offenders,” Chief Coggins said.
There are many situations the department has to consider with Senate Bill 11 now in effect. Chief Coggins said his officers have to be ready for all circumstances.
“We need to work on changing officers mindsets and make sure they have that awareness now,” Chief Coggins said. “Unlike the past when handguns were prohibited from campus, now we will have people legally possessing firearms on campus.”
What does Coggins suggest someone legally carrying do if a shooter is on campus?
“I would never encourage a handgun license holder to engage an active shooter at the peril of people’s lives, his or her own lives, in addition to knowing law enforcement is responding,” Chief Coggins said.
Campus police are trained on the state standard and have trained for these types of situations in the past.
With that said, Chief Coggins believes the biggest change will be in calls related to students violating the policies put in place.
“I would suspect if we see any type of uptick in hand gun related calls, it will be relating to someone having seen one when they shouldn’t, rather than somebody actually pulling it out and using it,” Chief Coggins said.
Chief Coggins also wants people to know where you can and cannot have a hand gun on campus.
We have a breakdown on those locations and policies here.
– Newschannel 6
