Page 33 - College Planning & Management, April 2018

useful, won’t necessarily reach everyone on campus. Cell phones rank as the most efficient way to contact virtually everyone on campus.
Then again, how can a campus securi- ty director text everyone’s cell phone all at once? “Most campuses employ a company that can broadcast mass notification mes- sages to cell phones,” says Halligan.
Officials must, however, think about this ahead of time and plan a system matched to the needs of particular cam- puses. For instance, a campus with 5,000 people will have different needs than a campus with 50,000 people.
“If you have 5,000 people on campus, you can communicate very fast,” Hal-
ligan says. “On the other hand, if you
have 50,000 people, it will take longer. Companies that send out mass notification messages may have limits. It might only
be possible to send 10,000 messages at a time. To communicate with 50,000 people, it becomes necessary to send five messages, one after the other. It can still be done fast,
but it will take longer.”
What if a college maintains several
campuses? Is there ever a need to communicate with people on each campus? “Yes,” says Halligan. “One of our clients in California has a cluster of nine campuses within a 90-minute drive of each other. If there is an earthquake, it could affect some of these schools or all of them. When a problem that may affect some or all locations arises, the safety teams at all of the locations receive the emergency message.
“If an emergency issue involves just one campus—an active shooter, for instance— messages go out only to that campus.”
Many security directors create and pre-load emergency messages. Pre-loaded messages must be general enough to cover all the variations that might arise, while allowing for customization.
“For example, severe weather can create an emergency situation on campus,” says Paul Timm, vice president with Lemont, IL-based Facility Engineering Associates. “We work with many schools in the Mid- west, where tornadoes rank as one of the most dangerous weather events. Pre-loaded emergency messages can direct students, faculty, administrators—as well as visi- tors—to shelter areas available on campus in an efficient and timely fashion.”
Routine Messages, Too
Planning also includes creating and pre-loading routine messages. Most campuses will host similar events over and over—football and basketball games, for instance. It is possible to prepare routine messages that can be approved ahead of time and used again and again to help manage the crowds on game day.
According to Halligan, mass notifica- tions can also direct arriving visitors
to parking areas and away from road closures—as long as they have signed up for the service.
Signing up is a relatively simple matter. Students, administrators, and anyone else who wants to receive notifications simply
enter their phone numbers into the system. Colleges today typically offer students
an opportunity to enter their cell phone numbers into the system at the beginning of the school year.
Halligan cautions that the emergency communications system should only be used for emergencies: bomb threats, active shooters, fires, and other threats. “You don’t want to use it to remind people of
a sale at the bookstore or a show at the theater,” he says. “That kind of use will desensitize people. They will begin to think that this is just another attempt by the university to publicize something. When a real emergency arises, they may not bother to read the message.
“So before putting up a message on the emergency system, you should ask yourself: ‘Will this information make the recipients safer?’ Send the message if and only if it will make recipients safer.
“The issue is worth exploring. What if you have someone using a BB gun to shoot out car windows at 2:00 a.m.? Even though few people were around at that time, we discussed whether the campus would be safer if everyone was alerted through the messaging system. We decided that some people were always out late—in labs, or for fun. In the end, we decided that we should put the message out to do what we could to ensure people’s safety.”
Halligan adds another caution. “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket,” he says. “You need multiple ways to communi-
cate in an emergency. What happens, for instance, if your cell phone towers go down and you can’t send texts or make calls?
“You must have backups: outside speakers, scrolling message boards,
radio and television. Plan to use all of the available communication tools when an emergency arises—because you won’t know which tools you will have and which tools you will lose.”
That’s the key to emergency messag- ing: Set up an emergency communication system that employs multiple tools, and use them all when the time comes. CPM
COMMUNICATIONS AMONG KEY EMERGENCY RESPONDERS
Effective emergency communications with the student body, faculty, and administration requires coordinated communications among the security staff and other campus responders.
Two-way radios can help with that, notes Paul Timm, vice presi- dent with Lemont, IL-based Facility Engineering Associates. Timm has long advocated providing two-way radios for the security staff, campus administrators, and facilities people.
“In an emergency, you must be able to communicate with key people without delay,” he says. “Two-way radios can ensure prompt, effective communications.”
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