Education
Brown will install additional security cameras at the academic building where a gunman killed two students and injured nine others earlier this month.
Brown University’s interim police chief vowed to build a “stronger, sophisticated, and more resilient model of campus safety” in the wake of a deadly shooting that sounded alarms about the Ivy League school’s security systems.
As part of its safety overhaul, Brown will install additional security cameras at the academic building where 48-year-old gunman Claudio Neves Valente killed two students — Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov — and injured nine others earlier this month.
In a letter to the Brown community Tuesday, interim vice president for public safety Hugh T. Clements said he is “fully aware” of “critical questions” surrounding the strength of the college’s safety and security systems following the Dec. 13 mass shooting.
“Acknowledging those questions is not about assigning blame — it is about responsibility, learning and improvement,” Clements wrote. “What happened on Dec. 13 should never happen again — at Brown or anywhere — and we must confront that imperative for our community with steadfast purpose.”
Clements, a former chief of the Providence Police Department, is new to the role; university president Christina Paxson announced his appointment last week after placing Brown’s previous police chief, Rodney Chatman, on leave amid heightened scrutiny over campus security.
“Safety requires more than visible security,” Clements wrote. “It is built through preparation, transparency, trust, and partnership. My vision for public safety at Brown is one that is community-centered, proactive and grounded in best practices, modern technology and clear communication.”
In addition to an enhanced police presence on campus and increased staffing levels, Clements outlined several security projects Brown aims to complete prior to the spring semester, which begins Jan. 21. They include expanding the campus’s network of panic buttons and blue light emergency phones, boosting public safety training, and transitioning any remaining buildings to card access, rather than keyed entry.
According to Clements, Brown will offer new safety and active-shooter preparedness training during the spring semester while also giving community members a chance to share concerns, ideas, and feedback. Further, Brown will install additional security cameras in certain key areas, including the Barus & Holley building, where the mass shooting occurred.
Rhode Island attorney general Peter Neronha previously told reporters the shooting happened in an older section of the building that was equipped with “fewer, if any, cameras.” Though Brown had more than 1,200 cameras installed across campus at the time of the shooting, footage from inside the Barus & Holley building did not capture the person of interest, he said.
It would ultimately take authorities six days to identify and track down Neves Valente, who was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility. While the manhunt was still underway, however, authorities allege Neves Valente shot and killed 47-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro in his Brookline home.
Clements did not say how many new cameras will be installed on Brown’s campus as part of the security boost. His letter came about a week after Paxson announced an external after-action review of the shooting response, and after the U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation to determine whether school officials violated federal campus safety and security requirements.
“I want you to know this: Our goal is not to create a campus defined by fear, but one defined by preparedness, vigilance, and mutual care,” Clements wrote. “We are committed to maintaining a campus where every member of this community — students, faculty, staff, and visitors — can learn, work, and live with confidence that they are doing so in spaces that support a strong academic mission while also being secure.”
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