Virginia Tech University was like most other college campuses until Monday, when a gunman killed more than 30 people.

Nothing like the incident at Virginia Tech has ever happened at Brigham Young University or Utah Valley State College. Interim UVSC Police Chief Chris Rockwood said the only violent arrests the department makes are tied to events like concerts -- hardly ever something tied to students during the day.

According the U.S. Department of Education, there were 46 reported criminal offenses in 2005 at Virginia Tech -- most of them for burglary, none for murder. The campuses of BYU and UVSC combined reported fewer criminal offenses in 2005. BYU reported 36, and UVSC reported 3.

Still, events like the one at Virginia Tech are causing people in Utah County to take a second look at security.

"It's on everybody's mind here," said UVSC spokesman Chris Taylor.

UVSC hasn't announced any specific plans to re-evaluate policies or make changes. Both campuses said they are prepared in the event of a similar incident.

"We feel good about the safety of the UVSC campus," Taylor said.

UVSC has six full-time officers and 20 reserve officers. The police department at BYU has about 44 officers.

Rockwood said the situations like the one at Virginia Tech could be classified as active gunman situations -- meaning there were shots being fired in a building.

If there were an active gunman situation at UVSC, college police would likely be first on the scene. They would seek out the gunman and try to end the situation.

"If he has a gun, we have our guns. That's how it's neutralized," Rockwood said.

Rockwood said the department had an active gunman training in November.

If there were a hostage situation, the school would call in SWAT teams from the surrounding area.

"Our primary goal is to isolate the incident," Taylor said.

Depending on the situation, UVSC would either be evacuated or go into lock down.

BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said BYU tries to be prepared for emergencies.

"This would just be something you need to have people with experience in place who have gone through the training, but every situation would be different," Jenkins said.

The Associated Press reported that Virginia Tech students complained that the first news they heard from Virginia Tech came two hours after the first shooting.

"They have to make the best determination for the facts of hand," Jenkins said. "I would not try and second guess this school Virginia Tech."

Jenkins said communication is a large part of emergency preparedness at BYU and the university uses e-mail and the Web to alert its students. Jenkins said BYU's back-up plans include calling trees, message trees or communication with deans, department chairs and residence halls.

Taylor said in the case of an emergency at UVSC, communication would be facilitated by physical facilities employees charged as building captains. If students and employees were to remain the building, Taylor said, the building captains would go through the buildings with megaphones shouting instructions. If students and employees needed to evacuate, one option is to use the fire alarm, which would alert people to leave. Building captains would be outside the buildings with instructions.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.