In the security office on KS Kapālama campus, TV screens dominate the
front room: cameras monitoring every corner of campus broadcast here.
Just one piece of the strategy Capt. Thomas "Sonny" Santos (KSK '92)
uses to keep staff and students safe.
"We rival some of the large
college campuses, across the world" says Santos.." So it's important
that there's structure and organization and process to how people come
to campus, who's allowed in what area, how do we manage that working
with our education stakeholders and everybody else on campus."
Santos
spent over 26 years in the Honolulu Police Department before becoming
KSK’s Security Manager. He says his continuing connections to the force
help him on the job today. "Everything is based off relationships -
pilina - so I'm fortunate enough that I'm still a reserve officer with
the police department." Teaching and preparing officials for emergencies
has been a major theme in his career; with HPD he served as a FEMA
instructor for the City & County. Santos and his team trained over
3,000 first responders on how to deal with active attacks. He co-created
and administered a leadership development curriculum for HPD. Having
served as the department's Emergency Management Coordinator, he is
respected across the state as an authority on active threat incident
management.
Now he brings his training expertise to KSK kumu to
prepare them against campus threats. "We started with elementary kumu.
So we spend about an hour with them in their classroom environments,
what are some issues? Just really giving the kumu more tools, more
options and then having them understand that they are empowered in those
life and death situations."
But preventing dangerous people from
accessing campus in the first place is the top priority for Santos and
his team. "If something goes wrong and security lets the wrong person up
on campus, that kuleana lies with us and nobody else."
As an
alumnus who is looking forward to giving back to his Kamehameha ‘ohana,
Santos feels a special appreciation and affection for campus that shows
in his work. "Continuing to benefit from Pauahi's vision and legacy as
an employee for the school and being able to provide for my family from
Pauahi's vision is like, just unbelievable."
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Kaipuolono Article, Kapalama Newsroom, Kapalama Home, Kapalama campus
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