BUTLER TWP— By January, Butler County Community College police will carry guns.

Previously, the college's policy prohibited weapons on campus and relied on local police for emergency protection. However, the board of trustees on Wednesday changed that policy.

"We can't, in this day in age, have uniformed personnel and not give them the tools of the profession," said board member Robert Smith, who is president of Slippery Rock University, where campus police have long been armed.

Nick Neupauer, BC3 president, said making the campus safe was one of his goals since taking the office a year ago. The college has bought call boxes for reporting emergencies and an electronic billboard that will be able to convey messages instantly.

A Feb. 14 shooting at the campus of Northern Illinois University that killed six and wounded 18 heightened Neupauer's awareness to the issue, he said. There, campus police were able to respond to the incident in 28 seconds, he said.

"We're at the mercy of waiting for township or possibly state police, and we just can't do that," Neupauer said.

Still, he said the new policy doesn't mean local police won't be called for more protection in an incident.

The college has three full-time and two-part time police positions at the main campus. The other three campus locations will continue to be policed by local police departments.

Brian Opitz, director of operations at the college, said the equipment could be bought in the next month. The officers could receive any additional training needed, and then by the second semester, they would carry weapons.

The revised policy also allows outside law enforcement workers training at the college's Public Safety Training Site to possess and fire weapons. That also previously had been prohibited.