HAYWARD, Calif. — In an effort to improve communications on campus, Chabot College, based here installed Talk-A-Phone’s products, to provide a communication tool for students and police officers.
Based in Hayward, Calif., Chabot College’s 94-acre campus is in the center of the city’s suburban community and heavy pedestrian traffic navigates through and around the campus daily.
“The main objective of the college was to improve communications in and around campus,” Chabot College Emergency Preparedness Liaison Nathan Moore explained. “We made the switch to Talk-A-Phone because we wanted a system that could allow us to broadcast messages from our call center and also broadcast messages spoken directly through the units with a microphone in the back.”
Chabot College has installed Talk-A-Phone’s products all over campus, primarily in parking lots and areas where students congregate, including the Radius Emergency Phone Towers, as well as the Pedestal Mounts. The towers allow for individual students to contact Chabot security in case of an emergency, and let security officers contact the entire campus community. The Talk-A-Phone Radius Emergency Phone Towers act as a two-way communication phone, an individual loudspeaker, or a mass notification delivery tool. Taking into consideration the long history of earthquakes and wildfires in California, it was a no brainer for Moore and the rest of the Chabot College Police to use Talk-A-Phone as their key tool of communication.
“We wanted a system that could help us better organize our response and communication with the community,” Moore said. “These units have done just that. These units help let the community know what’s going on during a drill or actual emergency. We wanted to create a safe environment.”
The Talk-A-Phones, painted bright red with a bright blue led light on top, are also easily identifiable on campus.
“At night the strobe lights have actually helped us locate people during emergencies,” Moore said.
The star feature of the Talk-A-Phone Emergency Towers is that they allow easy integration and broadcast options for mass notification. The system is extremely flexible and allows security authorities to broadcast messages through specific individual nodes or multiple zones. During installation it was apparent that the Talk-A-Phone Emergency Phone Towers would allow Chabot Police to use their mass notification, individual response, and security camera units, as one cohesive tool.
The presence of the Talk-A-Phone towers has positively affected everyone on campus. One of the most vocal supporters of the Talk-A-Phone towers has come from Leilani Guerrero, a Chabot College medical assistant and teacher.
“I’ve seen them in action,” she said. “Sometimes students will hit them if they have an emergency, a problem with parking, or something else. The college has done campus wide emergency drills with these units, for fire and earthquakes. They recently did a drill a few weeks ago. These units are in full force and they’re located all over campus. They’re quite loud and they really work! Everyone is so happy they’re here.”
Chabot College continues to grow and has recently passed enrollment of nearly 15,000 students. With the need to communicate to more students every year Chabot College has made it clear that Talk-A-Phone is the clear tool that allows them to do just that.
“Talk-A-Phone has been very beneficial to our college campus,” Moore added. “There’s definitely room for more and we’re happy that they show the community that we’re looking out for their welfare.”
