UMass Police, campus officials conduct successful emergency drill
UMass police and other campus emergency operations officials conducted a successful emergency drill this month to evaluate police response time and test activation of the Campus Alerts system. In addition, the notification and assembly of the campus’ emergency management team was rehearsed.
The two-part drill on July 16 included a simulated emergency situation requiring police action and the activation of the Campus Alerts system, which includes text messages, emergency broadcast e-mails and postings on two emergency Web sites. The exercise was followed by an in-depth discussion and strategy session for improvement in future scenarios.
“The UMass police demonstrated their ability to quickly assess an emergency situation and promptly use text messaging and e-mail notification tools,” said Ed Blaguszewski, campus spokesman and public information officer for the campus’ Emergency Operations Center. “Brian Olsen, our emergency management and business continuity manager hired earlier this year, did an outstanding job in organizing this event. He continues to assess our readiness and to make plans for new exercises in the coming months.”
The Campus Alerts system is the result of improvements the campus has made to increase campus emergency preparedness over the past year in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. In addition to the tools tested in this week’s drill, the campus has committed to funding an outdoor emergency alert system and UMass Police have expanded their capabilities by conducting “active threat training” for officers.
July 23, 2008.
E-mail story to a friend
Printer-friendly version
/more talking points/
