Biological, chemical and even nuclear threats have become a reality since the Sept. 11 attacks.

With those threats in mind, University Police has taken a step in assuring NIU’s safety with the assembly of the Critical Incident Response Team.

“September 11 changed everything we do in policing forever,” Police Chief Donald Grady said. “We need to prepare to provide the university with service for any situation.”

The 9-member CIRT consists of volunteers from the university police and also includes Michele Crase, NIU’s biological safety specialist.

NIU is the only university Grady knows of that has a team like this in place.

The first step in determining the need for a team like this was assessing the campus to see what threats NIU could face, Grady said. While Grady knows the risk of a plane running into the student center is nearly non-existent, other types of attacks are realities NIU needs to be prepared for.

The first step for the team is dealing with biological threats, Chase said. They’ve already had two anthrax false alarms to deal with.

The first of those occurred two weeks ago when an envelope with flour was found in the hallway of Douglas Hall, and the second occurred when foot powder was spilled in a bathroom of the residence halls.

“Considering they were our first instances, we did a really good job handling them,” said team leader Sgt. Matthew Kiederlen. He added that the team did a really good job keeping everyone informed and calm during the instances.

The training for CIRT members is extensive and requires them to be ready for any situation they may have to deal with.

“We have to be able to look at a substance and devise how we should handle it, whether it is a prank or it’s serious,” Kiederlen said.

Aside from being mentally prepared, members must go through extensive physical training beyond what’s already required of officers.

“Anderson Hall and Grant Towers South have been kind enough to allow us to use some of their facilities for training,” Kiederlen said.

Grady said it’s important that all the members get themselves in the best possible shape.

Officers won’t know in advance when they will have to deal with emergency situations, Grady said. These situations tend to be more stressful, and could last hours or even days.

In the future, the team will receive additional training and equipment to help them deal with all types of emergency situations.

Grady hopes to get bomb sniffing dogs and even bomb scanners to help deal with those types of threats.

Those resources could save a lot of time for the department. Grady points to the bomb scare in Wirtz Hall two weeks ago which took nearly four hours before the department could assess that it was indeed a false alarm.

With dogs and scanners, threats and even real situations could be handled more safely and quickly, Grady added.

Uniforms for the CIRT also could be added in the future, Kiederlen said.

“We’re not a swat team … we won’t be wearing masks, but we may get different uniforms when dealing with situations,” he added.

With so many resources available on campus, the cost is small, Grady said.

“It’s a very negligible fee to save lives and protect people and property,” Grady said. “It makes people on campus safer.”