Following the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute last week, senior administrators at Brandeis sought to assure the campus that the University has a comprehensive plan to handle such emergencies. But some campus police officers disputed that assertion, describing the emergency plan as ambiguous, and one that leaves them powerless to respond to serious emergencies.The officers, one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the massacre in Blacksburg again calls into question the University policy that prohibits officers from carrying guns. In a situation like the Virginia Tech shooting, the officers said, they would be unable to protect themselves or the community. The anonymous one said that such an emergency would likely spur officers to leave campus rather than act unarmed.

Ronald Haley, the president of the Union that represents the campus police, said the administration does not adequately utilize the police force, even though virtually all Brandeis officers are trained to carry a firearm. Currently, officers are permitted to carry a night stick and pepper spray.

"Am I supposed to get shot for the sake of Brandeis?" Haley asked in a phone interview Saturday. "I think it's ludicrous and ridiculous, but [the administration] won't listen to us."

In a campuswide e-mail Friday, University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote, "I want each and every member of the Brandeis community to know that the administration has in place an emergency procedures program, which we update regularly."

He referred requests for comment on the officers' dispute of his e-mail to the campus police.

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said the University's Emergency Response and Notification Plan includes state-of-the-art protocols for communicating a crisis situation to the campus and the Waltham Police and for evacuating the community to main buildings, such as the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, if needed. Varying protocols exist depending on the emergency, he said.

But Haley, who has worked at the University since 2000, said the emergency plan is more of an "ambiguous protocol" that makes the campus police completely dependent on the Waltham Police in emergencies. The only plan Haley knows of, he said, calls for summoning the Waltham Police.

In emergency situations, campus police have been instructed to help gather the community for evacuation, the other officer said. Beyond that, the plan is relatively vague, and is compounded by the fact that campus police are kept unarmed.

"We're in an environment that we can't police appropriately," Haley said.

It is not the first time the campus police have expressed their apprehension at the absence of firearms. Three officers told the Justice in March 2006 that they needed guns to do their jobs properly.

"Anybody who claims we don't need guns is completely ignorant," one officer said at the time. "We don't have the equipment to protect the community the way we should."

Like they did then, administrators now are downplaying the need for an armed police force.

"When we need armed officers on campus, they're here in a hurry," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said. "Most of the [Waltham] officers who work here on a regular basis know campus pretty well. In a scenario like [Virginia Tech], they would be in charge."

Officers in the past haven't expressed complete confidence in the local police.

"[Waltham police officers] don't know their way around this campus," an officer told the Justice in March 2006. "They come here and ask for directions. We know this campus like the back of our hands."

Such unfamiliarity can result in a 10-to-15 minute delay in response time, the officer said.

"Doesn't it make sense that the Waltham Police aren't going to do anything differently from what we would do?" Haley said Saturday. "We have an administration [that pushes] the panic button."

The emergency plan was last used in January 2006, when an e-mail bomb threat was made on the Heller School of Social Policy and Management. The University is considering additions to its emergency communications plan, Callahan said, such as a reverse 9-1-1 call to campus phones, a text messaging alert to cell phones and the installation of several sirens to alert the campus to check their e-mail, text messages and phone messages.

The current emergency plan has been developed in cooperation with local, state and federal safety officials, Reinharz said in his e-mail Friday.

Haley said he hopes the Virgina Tech shootings inspire conversation on this issue, and that they are able to keep the discussion going to enact real change. "These problems don't go away. They reappear in a different place and in a different way.