Local campuses beef up security after Ill. shooting

In response to Thursday?s fatal shooting at an Illinois college, some local schools have increased security on campus to prevent a similar event from taking place.
Investigators say six students, including 27-year-old gunman Steven Kazmierczak, were left dead at Northern Illinois University. Now, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has acknowledged that a similar rampage is a concern in Brooklyn.
Guards at Brooklyn College were given additional briefings Friday morning, and an extra effort was made to ensure students and staff knew what took place in Illinois.
?Everybody says, oh, it?s not going to happen to their school,? Michele Gonzalves Carvahal, a student, says. ?I?m sure nobody thought it would happen to them.?
?We?re concerned about it,? Kelly says. ?But I think we?ve done a lot to train school personnel, to train the trainers, so to speak.?
The CUNY system, Brooklyn College included, is joining a number of schools across the nation in trying to use technology to their advantage in an emergency. E-mail and cell phones would be used to send out updates and information almost as soon as a problem occurs.
?You can be notified in an emergency situation in the mode of your choice, whether it be text messages, e-mail, telephone call,? John Hamill, a Brooklyn College employee, says. Students at CUNY schools can sign up online for the new electronic alert system.
In the meantime, a ?See Something, Say Something? awareness campaign is going up as one more way to protect CUNY students.