LAS VEGAS -- University administrators from across the United States came together at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Monday for a refresher course on federal campus safety regulations.
The safety training, put on by the Clery Center for Security on Campus and the university's police department, helps universities prepare for emergency scenarios.
Safety classes began in 2005 after a freshman student was raped and killed on her Pennsylvania campus.
Federal laws require all campuses that receive financial aid to follow a long list of safety regulations, including keeping track of any crimes that happen on campus.
Administrators described the training as critical.
Year round, UNLV police patrol the campus looking for danger, but said that even with all their safety regulations in place, there is still room for improvement.
"Every year we sit down and we look at what are we doing, how can we do it better," said Sandy Seda, deputy of police at UNLV.
During Monday's training, administrators from across the country engaged in an open discussion about a range of emergencies, from natural disasters to an active shooter scenario.
In the years following the Virginia Tech shooting, the Clery Center said it has helped campuses develop a way to communicate with the entire student body at once.
If an emergency were to happen at UNLV, students would receive a text messaging or email within minutes of the incident.
Alvin Loi, a student attending UNLV, said he has seen the system at work.
"They sent us text and they sent us emails," he said. "It was pretty quick."
The training doesn't end there.
The Clery Center also helps universities understand how to report crimes that occur on their campuses.
"I think it's been significantly more embracing what we doing, especially after we see some of the reports that come out of Penn State and more recently the shooting in Connecticut," said Alison Kiss of the Clery Center. "There is a renewed commitment to safety."
James Morrow, the records supervisor for UNLV's police department, said he has gone through the training three times and takes away something new every year.
"It helps to build a collaborative team within the university itself," he said.
According to the Clery Center, it wants to aim to create a level of transparency within campuses so that parents and students feel comfortable in a new location.
"I think they do a really good job over here," Loi said of UNLV.
The UNLV police department said it doesn't want the safety training end on its campus.
In the coming months, the university is planning a major shooting response exercise on the Paradise Elementary School campus.
