The UNL Police Department is offering a new series of community training sessions for faculty, staff and students.
The brown bag presentations, organized by Koan Nissen, UNLPD’s education and personnel officer, are offered once a month from noon to 1 p.m. in the Nebraska Union (unless otherwise noted).
The idea for the sessions grew from UNLPD Chief Owen Yardley’s desire to create an outreach program based on issues pertinent to a campus community.
“The goal of these presentations is to bring awareness on public safety topics that are important to the students, faculty and staff,” Nissen said. “We really want folks to walk away a little more informed and prepared. And, we hope individuals will take this information back to individual campus unit and use it to start a constructive dialogue about emergency preparedness.”
Participants are encouraged to bring food and beverage to the sessions. The presentation take 30 to 35 minutes, leaving time for a question and answer period.
Nissen will lead the next public safety session on Feb. 18, exploring situational awareness and threat assessment.
The outreach series is unique locally as other law enforcement organizations do not offer similar presentations on a regular basis.
“Historically, law enforcement groups offer these types of community training sessions when requested,” Nissen said. “We’ve followed that reactive model in the past. But this series allows us to be proactive, offering a regular series that can help educate the campus community before a situation is encountered.”
Each session is free. Registration, though not required, is available at http://go.unl.edu/93sf.
The UNLPD public safety training schedule includes:
March 4 — Spring Break Safety, Aaron Pembleton, UNLPD
April 10 — Emergency Preparedness, Mark Robertson, UNLPD
April 15 — Active Shooter Awareness, Koan Nissen, UNLPD
May 1 — Nebraska Game and Parks Safety Briefing, TBA
July 17 — Active Shooter Awareness, Koan Nissen, UNLPD
Topics being considered include driving safety, alcohol/drug awareness, crime prevention, international student education, sexual assault awareness, cyber security, safety while traveling abroad and holiday safety.
For more information, or to suggest a topic or request a specific presentation, contact Nissen at knissen2@unl.edu or 402-472-2222.
