As the one-year anniversary approaches since a swatting event rocked the Fayetteville campus, the University of Arkansas is updating guidelines for what to do in an active threat situation. Ozarks at Large's Jack Travis takes us to the scene of the new safety video's film shoot.
An ambulance, a fire truck and a University of Arkansas Police Department cruiser sit lights on in front of the Faulkner Performing Arts Center. But there's no emergency.
"For today, we are filming the staging that would happen during an active threat."
That's Lexi Dilbeck, media coordinator for UAPD and one of the people in charge of the film shoot for the new Active Threat Safety video. The project is a direct response to a swatting incident on campus last August, in which UAPD was spoofed with false reports of an active shooter. Dilbeck says the new video is meant to answer some of the most frequently asked questions that came out of that situation.
Today, the crew is filming what it looks like when first responders prepare to enter a dangerous situation, such as an active shooter scene.
"So our ambulance, fire, for if there were potentially any people, victims that were needing medical. These are where you would go to. There are usually close to where the action is happening, but they stay out of the threat zone so that they're still in a safe area."
Scott Flanagin is director of UA Productions and marketing coordinator for the Division of Student Affairs. He's overseeing the project, which will take more than a week to shoot.
"And it's really we're thinking about what's the best way to train everybody on campus. We've had a video that we've had for the last 10 years. It's pretty dramatic.
"After the swatting incident on Aug. 25, we decided we needed to go a different direction and really try to inform the campus community about what is expected of them. Avoid, deny, defend, and then what the law enforcement response is going to be. So the video that we're working on is a little less dramatic than the current video. But it really spells out what we want students, faculty and staff to understand and be able to do in case of an active threat. And then what law enforcement's response is going to be, so they understand that as well."
Dilbeck says the training will walk viewers through the three actions UAPD wants the campus to know.
"So you need to know how to avoid that as your first action. If you are not in a zone where the threat is close, avoid at all times if you need to. If you are not in a zone where you can avoid, your next action is to deny access. So barricading doors, calling 911 and being silent. And then defend is your last resort. Do whatever you can to get the threat down."
Flanagin says the shoot has moved through several phases already.
"The first day we were shooting what we called Incident Command, where we had emergency management, Washington County Fire, Fayetteville PD, Springdale PD. A lot of people. That shoot went well.
"Yesterday, we were filming our spokespeople, so the two police officers who were going to be on camera explaining things and then doing the voiceover. And then today, this is our response from EMT and medical services. So we've got another day of filming on Friday, where we're going to actually have students act out what avoid, deny, defend means. And then we'll do that again on Monday in a different building and hopefully wrap it up on Monday and have everything filmed and ready to edit."
Dilbeck says this round of filming leans more heavily on the first responders' perspective than the university's last active threat video did.
"We are trying to showcase a little bit more of what happens behind the scenes, but we are still trying to highlight what you as the potential victim needs to do. But we also want to answer some of the questions from the swatting call that have been on Aug. 25. So we're trying to show a little bit of what happens from a first responders' point of view.
“Usually the staging area where command is happening, usually away from the threat. And then we're also going to show a little bit of our officers responding inside, trying to help people get out. And we're trying to also show some of the things that happen even after the swatting call has ended, the threat is eliminated. So what we do to investigate what we need to change, what needs to happen after the situation."
Flanagin says coordinating a shoot like this without triggering a real panic takes its own logistics.
"There's a lot of moving parts, and as you can see, there's a whole lot of people involved making sure that the union is aware that the library is aware that everyone around is aware of what's happening and that they are not alarmed. So it just, it takes a lot. It takes a whole crew of people from emergency management and UAPD and Division of Student Affairs and Fayetteville and EMTs all working together to make it happen. And it's been really great so far."
Dilbeck says this is one of her first shoots on the job and appreciates the lasting impact this project will have.
"It feels really good. I am a graduate from the University of Arkansas. I graduated with Agriculture Communications, so I really like to do media storytelling. And I think that in this generation, filming is a really good aspect in just doing training. I think it helps people get the visual appeal and learn from it."
Filming wrapped Monday. Now the video will undergo post-production with an anticipated release date in September. In the meantime, you can visit safety.uark.edu for more information about the University of Arkansas' avoid, deny, defend protocols and what to do if you find yourself in an active threat situation.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
