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MSU alerts undergo limited changes, first of a series

February 24, 2015

The varying changes, from providing direct access to the alert sign-up for parents and residents to replacing old on-campus sirens with speakers, will streamline the alert notification process and circulate that message to a wider audience, MSU police Capt. Penny Fischer said.

In the past, MSU police pulled alert contact information from the emergency contact forms students fill out through the Office of the Registrar.

Residents and parents can now sign up for emergency notifications using the Alert Portal, whereas before the student had to enter their parent’s information in, Fischer said. MSU police envisions these guest alert notification sign-ups as a way to keep visitors in the loop, such as during summertime events, she said.

In addition to the guest registration, students, faculty and staff can now modify or add their contact information online.

But only in outreach messages, which pertain to non-emergency occurrences and trends, can students tailor the way they receive alerts, Fischer said.

The emergency notifications will still be sent to every mode of communication available, even home phone numbers given during the emergency contact form fill-outs, potentially notifying students’ parents each time there is a crime alert released. Following the stabbing of a 19-year-old student in the early morning of Sept. 7, advertising junior Morgan Whitney’s brother, who received an MSU alert via their home phone, grew concerned although his sister was nowhere near the scene of the incident.

Often alerts sent home worry parents and relatives unnecessarily, Whitney said. She’d prefer it if MSU police offered the option to remove parents from receiving emergency notifications and leaving the burden of alerting them fall to her. She can then determine the necessity on a case-by-case basis.

“If there was a real problem, then I’d text them myself if I was in trouble,” Whitney said.

Physiology senior Rachel Brock said she’d also prefer deciding whether her parents receive MSU emergency alerts, but would add them to the list anyway.

Having the option though, Brock said, would be a plus for students with parents who are quick to worry.

Sometime after March 1, MSU police plan to have implemented a “one-button” alert notification system that will expedite the process of sending the first, general emergency alert out to all on the list.

Though it won’t reduce the lag time caused by the volume of those alerted, it will cut out the human element of having an officer log in, find or create the message and then send it out. Rather, with the press of a button a message already primed with the necessary information will send to all on the list, Fischer said.

“From the time the information is known, we’re talking about seconds as opposed to minutes,” she said.

The last of the emergency preparedness measures to be implemented, slated for completion by April 1, are the replacement of existing sirens with speakers and the addition of four more speakers across campus, Fischer said.

During a tornado warning, a traditional siren can be issued and then followed with an audible message explaining what that means and telling people where they should go — a vital message for those not acquainted with the warning, such as some international students, Fischer said.

The second benefit is that the speakers provide an immediate way to alert all those on campus of where a dangerous situation, such as a chemical spill or an active shooter situation, is taking place.

"(During) an act of violence situation, we can send an audible message on the fly to tell people what to avoid, where to stay away from, where the hazard is,” Fischer said.

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