On September 18, 2003, the Virginia State University (VSU) campus, in Petersburg, Virginia, was hit by Hurricane Isabel. After making landfall, Isabel moved across the central part of Virginia, causing dozens of deaths and widespread wind damage.

During those hectic days prior to the arrival of Isabel, the VSU police force prepared by activating the VSU emergency operations command center and stocking it with food and water. The department developed a contingency plan for rescue operations and a schedule to ensure that necessary personnel in the 58-person department (23 sworn police officers, 21 security officers, 9 dispatchers, and 5 safety and administrative personnel) would be on duty during the hurricane.

VSU also purchased two-way handheld radios in anticipation of losing their normal communications network. The antennae serving the university’s police radios and cellular telephones are located on high towers that are vulnerable to wind damage. When the campus lost power for almost a week, landline telephones, which require electricity, were of no use. Police officers used their own radios until the storm’s dangerous high winds forced them to move indoors. (One lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina is the possibility of communicating by cell phone text messages, which require less bandwidth.) The VSU community fortunately survived Isabel without injuries or extensive damage.