The University of Utah, where conservative leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated, lacks several important public safety measures and practices that have become standard safeguards for security at events around the country, the Associated Press review found.
Kirk, an outdoor courtyard at Utah Valley University, appeared on September 10th. Discussion studentssurrounded by several tall buildings, Kirk became vulnerable. This became even more powerful as campus police did not fly drones to monitor the rooftops or coordinate with local law enforcement to secure events. Campus sizes have already deployed only six officers from smaller units. There were no bag checks or metal detectors.
A sniper was located on a nearby roof and killed Kirk with a single shot about 20 minutes after the event began, evading notifications from campus police.
Security at Utah Valley University will have a sharp focus in the coming months as it seeks answers to what lawmakers and the public may have done differently.
“There was definitely a security mistake, and it exposed him,” said Greg Schaffer, who oversaw Kirk’s security from 2015 to 2022.
In an interview, the Associated Press asked university president Astrid Tomines if there were any security failures on the campus surrounding Kirk’s assassination. “Someone was killed and it’s a tragedy. I think that’s what I’m saying now,” she replied. Tuminez refused to answer more detailed questions about pending campus security External review. The university spokesman also refused to answer questions about staffing, equipment, security planning and budgets.
There are no drones to monitor the rooftops
The day Kirk spoke on UVU, it was clear and clear. The weather was perfect for the drone to clearly view the roofs of the surrounding buildings.
However, security experts said, no drones were deployed. The rooftop sniper attack was an obvious threat.. That was as clear as last year when a rooftop gunman from Butler, Pennsylvania, held by President Donald Trump during his campaign, killing one person, wounding two people, and injured Trump.
Ty Richmond, president of event services at security company Allied Universal, Assassination attempt Trump exposed the risk that he could not secure high areas. He said that it costs just $2,000 and video surveillance should be part of the tool used to assess and address threats at outdoor events.
“It was either not comprehensive or not at all because it should have been a natural ability to identify and detect the high altitude risks and exposures you have in such situations,” Richmond said.
The UVU campus had numerous cameras, including at least one overlooking the buildings around the courtyard. A university spokesman refused to say whether someone was actively monitoring or running.
Smaller than the average police
UVU has 48,000 students enrolled, while Tuminez includes high school students and 16,000 students who have not taken classes on campus.
According to a 2024 UVU report, there are 23 police officers at the university. According to the 2024 US Department of Justice, the average public university has about one executive in every 500 students. study.
“There is no campus police station in the country that can provide the level of security needed for a large outdoor event of 3,000 people,” said S. Daniel Carter, campus safety consultant. “They would normally need help from local law enforcement.”
The UVU was attended by six campus police officers at the event, along with details of Kirk’s personal security, Campus Police Chief Jeffrey Long said after the shooting. Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said at a press conference that UVU police officers were watching the crowd from their “promoted positions.”
Officials from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office and Orem Police Department said that both have drones and they are not involved in the security of the event.
A UVU spokesperson said unlike other schools with more security staff, there are no dormitories to protect them. However, other Utah schools of similar sizes with a predominantly commuter population have a higher proportion of student executives.
Weber State University, a public school that is primarily commuting with over 33,000 students, also has about half of its high schools, with public safety drones and 41 full-time and part-time police officers. Additionally, the University of Utah, which has 36,000 predominantly commuter students, has 46 executives.
Overall spending on public safety was varied at universities in 2025. $2.3 million in Weber State and $16.2 million in University of Utah Student Murder in 2018 Security spending has increased. UVU officials refused to share the department’s current budget, but it was shown that a legislative audit showed that of the nearly $250 million campus budget, $1.6 million was allocated for public safety in 2020.
Safety resources did not match school growth
Between the suburbs of Salt Lake City and Brigham Young University in Provo, UVU grew from community colleges in the early 1990s to less than 9,000 community colleges. Approximately 48,000 this year Thanks to the addition of a four-year degree and campus expansion. But public safety couldn’t keep up, two former campus public safety leaders said. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity. Because they were afraid of the impact.
Val Peterson, UVU’s vice president of management and strategic relations, has pleaded for more safety resources, including hiring more executives and providing higher pay to maintain skilled personnel, the former public safety leader said. Peterson, a Republican state legislator, leads the state budget, oversees UVU’s public safety and has been at the university for more than 30 years.
Both former campuses public safety officials recall what they said many times at a meeting that Peterson hadn’t happened on campus for decades at a meeting about public safety funds related to about 10 years ago, and that it wouldn’t happen in the future. Peterson believed that sleepy campuses were safe from harm, they said. The UVU president declined to comment on Peterson’s alleged remarks.
Former UVU police sergeant. Brian Cunningham also recalled these comments, and officers said they warned the administration during a budget debate on public safety that the campus could become a “active shooter nightmare” scene due to its layout and understaffed police station.
Peterson did not respond to his personal and civil servants to requests for comment sent by phone and email.
Sub-Par emergency response system
At the time of the shooting, the university had no firefighters to help plan safety at large events. Also, in 2023, two of the university’s three emergency radio channels did not meet the state standards for signal strength, according to an internal review shared with the Associated Pressure. The review did not include any information about the third channel.
Receptions like Patch were a serious issue noted by one former campus public safety official that could hinder coordination in emergencies.
The university has boosted the traffic lights in one building over the past year, said Tina Matthew, executive director of the Utah Communications Department. She was unaware of any other improvements.
A university spokesman did not answer questions regarding the campus emergency radio signal strength.
Safety assessment of campuses removed from proposed state laws
Utah legislators pushed to improve public school security after the fatal 2022 Elementary school shooting In Ubarde, Texas, we established a task force, appointed a state security officer, and by requiring that all public schools have “armed parents” there. They also required that all K-12 schools conduct strict safety assessments.
Rep. Ryan Wilcox, a Republican who chairs the task force, introduced a law this year requiring public universities to implement the same assessment, but this provision was removed by the state Senate.
“I don’t think the provisions of the bill have changed the outcomes of the current situation,” said Sen. Anne Milner, who co-chairs the task force. She said public universities should be entrusted to implement their own public safety practices “consistent with institutional reality,” and the assessment would likely take a long time to complete.
However, Wilcox said the lack of forced security ratings could allow vulnerabilities to be noticed. “I don’t know how ready we are because these assessments aren’t done.”
“We’re going to learn everything we can learn from it,” he said of Kirk’s death. “It’s a complete disaster.”
___
Associated Press Reporter Claudia Lauer from Philadelphia contributed to the report. Brooke is a legional member of the Associated Press/Report’s American State University News Initiative. American Report It is a non-profit, national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms and reports on secret issues.
