Millersville, Pa., University Deploys New Emergency Notification System
EXTON, Pa.
The Protection Bureau announces the installation of a new emergency alert system with greater capabilities at Millersville University. The system, which was tested on June 1, will allow all the school’s emergency alert technology to be sent to students and staff simultaneously, said Pat Weidinger, MU’s director of safety and environmental health.
Since the original alert system was installed in January 2008, students who have signed up for an account have been able to receive e-mails and text messages about potential safety issues on campus.
“The new system allows us to integrate other forms of emergency information,” Weidinger said. “Eventually we will be able to activate all of our technology through one portal.”
With the new system, students will receive text messages and e-mails at the same time the school’s outdoor siren and reverse 911 indoor systems are activated. “Previously, each system had to be activated separately”, Weidinger said.
Weidinger said the new system is much quicker because it utilizes priority communication lines to send out alerts. “It gives us more confidence that any message will be received during peak periods of traffic,” Weidinger said.
The new alert system was manufactured by Cooper Notification and Supplied by The Protection Bureau, Cooper’s Channel Partner, the same company that installed the outdoor siren system at Millersville University in September.
To continue to receive messages via the alert system, Weidinger said, students must renew their accounts through the school’s Web site at: www.millersville.edu.
More than 800 students signed up to receive safety alerts since the original system was implemented almost two years ago.
The alert system has been activated several times. In one case, officials said, alerts were issued after a student threatened one of his former professors with a knife. In another case, it was activated when a faculty member reported seeing a man with a rifle on campus.
For additional information, click here.
The Protection Bureau June 2009 press release.
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