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Gun threat last month turned out to be false scare
Public Safety keeps trespass list to maintain security
The Advocate
Public Safety has a list and they're checking it twice.
The list, a criminal trespass orders list, is found on the MHCC website under the public safety link. The criminal trespass order is a violation that is used for more serious offenses such as assaults, threats and repeat offenders.
Gale Blessing director of safety and security, said, "We want to keep people safe."
An incident Sept. 13 is an example of public safety's determination to keep the MHCC campus safe. An email sent to staff and faculty that day by Maggie Huffman, director of communications, said, "At 11:32 a.m. today, a male waving a firearm ran from a nearby parking lot onto the Gresham campus and was quickly apprehended by police officers several minutes later. MHCC Public Safety has placed the suspect on our no trespass list."
"It all happened very quickly," said Huffman in an interview the next day. "The time from when the suspect ran over to campus to the time the Gresham Police Department arrested the suspect was about one minute so it was a very quick response."
Once the suspect, Skyler Lindsay, was in custody, Huffman said it was discovered that the gun was not a real firearm. A Multnomah County Jail official said Thursday no one by that name has been taken into custody.
According to Blessing, the school received notification from 9-1-1 about the individual being near the area. Blessing then called public safety officer Carl Stromseth to investigate.
"I got the call but he was already in custody when I got down there," said Stromseth, "I then had to make sure it was over and contact the people who needed to be contacted."
People who are expelled from campus are required to fill out a "Notice of Criminal Trespass" form. In general, people are listed on the criminal trespass orders for one year but it varies on the severity of the case. There are options to appeal but they differ for students, non-students and employees.
"We have the list and photos to make people aware. If they see them on campus, they need to contact our department because they are violating our order," Blessing said.
Stromseth said, "If they have got a plan and are going to act on it, that's serious."
To report a threat on campus or an individual on the trespass list, dial "7911" from any campus phone.
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