Security revised after Virginia shootings
ISSUE: 05/01/07 > News > Security revised after Virginia shootings
Starting next semester, Belmont will contact cell phones and personal e-mail addresses in case of a crisis.
Since the Virginia Tech tragedy when 32 students were shot to death on campus, personnel at Belmont and many other colleges and universities have taken extra steps to ensure the new emergency system will be in place by next school year. Administrators did a trial run earlier than planned and sent out a test message to faculty and staff April 17, said Greg Pillon, director of university marketing and communications.
Students will voluntarily offer Belmont their personal contact information, which will be entered into a Honeywell database. ... People on campus could then log into the Honeywell Web site to update information themselves. |
“There are still some kinks to get out,” Terry White, the director of campus security, said, but he’s optimistic it will be ready.
The communication system, Instant Alert by Honeywell, was bought eight months ago, and is in place for faculty and staff; Belmont expects to broaden it to include the student body this fall.
The software sends a preset or newly recorded message instantaneously to PDAs, cell phones (text messages and voicemails), e-mail addresses and land lines, Pillon said. “We’re piloting and testing it in order to utilize the system to its fullest potential.”
“I think the most effective would be text messaging,” said freshman Karla Muñoz, who believes the new strategy will be a valuable tool.
The challenge is creating “a system by which we get info and keep it current,” said White, who has been at Belmont for 15 years. “If we don’t have your correct cell phone number, you aren’t going to know about” the emergency.
Pillon said they are still not sure how they will get every student to sign up and doesn’t think 100 percent cooperation is a possibility. His team is working on a campaign to alert students when they return in the fall. The university is considering mailings, sign-up tables, e-mails and class announcements by instructors.
Students will voluntarily offer Belmont their personal contact information, which will be entered into a Honeywell database. Pillon said people on campus could then log into the Honeywell Web site to update information themselves.
Freshman Katie Stevenson wouldn’t mind taking that step. “If it’s for my own safety, then I would be OK with it,” she said. “I would rather them have my cell phone number than them have no better way to get in touch with me during an emergency.”
It will be used strictly as an emergency communication tool and select key administrators have the ability to send out mass messages. We don’t want “the boy who cried wolf all over again,” White said.
It will be employed in situations “that put the campus community in danger,” Pillon said. This includes tornado warnings, criminals on campus, serious bomb scares and national health concerns.
The system supports the current emergency management plan, said Pillon. The guidelines, which should soon be available on BIC, run through procedures in case of fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, criminals on or near campus, hostage situations, suspicious packages, bomb threats, biological terrorist events, chemical contaminations, protests, explosions and even aircraft crashes.
If a nonviolent protest occurred, for example, the step is to pay “extra attention to your surroundings,” according to the plan in the faculty handbook. But if it starts to get violent, people “should enter a building and stay inside, away from windows, and remain inside until Metro Police has resolved the situation.”
If a critical incident occurred before the fall, current communication procedures are not so instant. The emergency plan calls for Belmont Central and the bookstore to notify one employee per building from the emergency contact list, which has about 40-45 names. If an event happens between 4:30 p.m. and 8 a.m., the Office of Campus Security supervisor on duty would coordinate officers to physically notify one faculty or staff member per classroom building, the library and any buildings that have events in progress, according to the plan.
Information is also put on the Belmont Web site, under campus announcements on BIC, and in e-mails to students. The campus security cars are also equipped with speakers, so officers can broadcast announcements if a situation called for such an outlet, Pillon said.
In case of lesser crimes on campus, Belmont Security alerts the community by posting fliers in residence halls and sometimes placing them on cars for commuter students, said White. In serious crimes, Nashville Metro Police are contacted, as most of the security staff are not police officers themselves, White said.
“Students can feel safe,” he said. There are 25 officers and usually between six and eight on duty weekdays.
“I constantly see a BEPO presence,” said freshman Chase Misenheimer. “I’ve never felt threatened anywhere on campus.”
Other schools have been evaluating ways of instantly communicating to thousands of people, reports The Tennessean.
Vanderbilt sent out text messages to its community on April 20 with instructions on how to set up their service, called MobilVU.
Middle Tennessee State University hopes to develop a profile of each cell phone user and a panic command which could be dialed in an individual emergency. Using the Global Positioning System, available in most cell phones, officials could identify who needs help and where they are. The plan would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars according to The Tennessean.
The Honeywell Instant Alert system costs about $18,500 a year to include all employees and students, according to Jason Rogers, vice president for administration and university counsel.
Photos&Videos
