“Staycation” gives time to discover an excellent podcast on campus and workplace violence

I love driving trips, and the last few trips I’ve taken I’ve come back and blogged about all the podcasts I’ve listened to while on the road (see here and here).  This fall we had to cancel a two week trip out east in favour of a “staycation,” which has been remarkably enjoyable.  Staying home means access to child care, so Seanna and I have had some nice time together, a rarity nowadays.  Mommy and daddy drop Hugs off and go to a matinée (the new Guy Ritchie movie’s pretty fun).  Mommy and daddy drop Hugs and mommy beats daddy 3-0 in squash, and so on…

Anyway, I did get permission to fly out to Halifax to catch a good swell (solitude also being a rarity nowadays).  I’ve spent the last three days surfing myself to death and, while driving between sessions, listening to a great podcast on managing the threat of campus violence.  (For my most detailed pubic contribution on this topic please click here).

The five audio clips published here were taped at an April 2008 program run by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.  The first clip, Blueprint for a Safer Campus, is a bit slow to start, but sets the stage for the event and discusses the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators “Blueprint” (linked here), made in response to the Virginia Tech incident.  The second clip is a fantastic discussion of threat assessment by Dr. Marisa Randazzo (former Chief Research Psychologist for the U.S. Secret Service and co-author of the very significant Secret Service/Department of Education report on threat assessment) and Gene Deisinger (Associate Director of Public Safety and Deputy Chief of Police for the Iowa State University Police Division).  Just excellent, and the highlight of the program for me.  The third clip is of Professor Katherine Newman’s keynote address, in which she profiles two K-12 shooting incidents with a view to explaining the motivation of shooters. I got a little burnt out by clips four and five, one on risk assessment and the other on “a regional perspective.”

I’m back to Toronto now and have a week of staycation to go during which I plan to hang out with Hugs, lounge around and challenge Seanna to a re-match.  If I get a chance to listen to anything else of interest I’ll be sure to let you know.

Dan