I have kind of a weird idea about how to warn an entire campus that there

[tblue37]

is a shooter or that there has been a shooting.

One of the problems highlighted in news reports and complaints is that the students on campus were entirely unaware of the first shooting, and the first email warnings didn't even go out until 2 hours after the first shooting.

We have ways of warning large numbers of people to take cover in case of dangerous weather. Why not have some sort of siren with a specific sound to warn students on campus that there has been significant violence on campus. Imagine: after the first shooting, a siren goes off and continues to go off every 15 minutes until they are sure they have the shooter or the situation contained.

All students on campus know that something has gone down. They aren’t walking totally uninformed into a dangerous situation.

Students coming on campus hear the siren, too, because it goes off at regular intervals. They could then decide to turn around and go home.

People are saying that regardless of whether the first shooting was an isolated domestic incident or not, other students should have been warned that it had happened.

Instead of locking down the campus, which is essentially impossible, they could just issue a widespread warning, not by email, which not everyone checks all the time, but by siren, which everyone would hear (except me--I am nearly deaf and I don't even hear our tornado warning sirens here in Kansas--but I digress).

If the siren has a very specific sound to indicate on-campus deadly violence, then students and faculty would know: There has been deadly violence on campus.

I think we are bound to encounter more and more deadly violence on campus and such, so it might not be a bad idea to have a warning system in place for campus-wide alerts. It would be cheaper and less invasive than some of the other suggestions I have seen.

[soothsayer]

1. have to work out fire-drill-like procedures, which could play into

the hand of a devious killer? and on edit, these things are soooooo rare, aren't they?

[MADem]

2. They had a public address system, they just didn't use it. They could have talked to every single

classroom and dorm there.

[mwb970]

5. Are there speakers in every dorm room then?

Sounds like 1984. And what about the students walking around outside? I like the siren idea better.

[MADem]

6. I dunno if they are in rooms or just common areas--but I did read that, and hear it, and the

commentator on TV pointing it out was wondering why they didn't use it.

Apparently, it's an OUTDOOR system as well: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18142745/

Student Maurice Hiller said he went to a 9 a.m. class two buildings away from the engineering building, and no warnings were coming over the outdoor public address system on campus at the time.

.....Was plan in place and practiced?
Security experts not connected with Virginia Tech said their immediate questions focused on whether the university had adopted and practiced a plan to handle such dire crises, and whether its system of emergency communications was state-of-the-art.
..."The most critical element that falls apart in any type of emergency, especially at educational institutions, is often communications," Trump said.

[Warpy]

3. They thought the situation was contained

All they knew is that a male and female had been shot, that it looked like an ex boyfriend probably did it, and that the shooter was long gone by the time they got there (he was, standing in line at the post office). No alarm would have been sounded for that.

The cops did everything by the book. Mass murders are so incredibly rare that they had no idea one was about to happen. Hindsight may be 20/20, but foresight is still blind.

[Kajsa]

4. Lock down alerts are issued over the PA system.

If done immediately, which is how they should go down,
locked doors will prevent the shooter from entering classrooms
and other facilities.

How about doing both -
the lock down and the siren?

[ShortnFiery]

7. Excellent Idea! Because we lived in tornado ally, Nebraska, the tornado sirens,

were heeded immediately - off to the basement!

Alert Sirens for College Campuses - sign to tune into college radio station?

IMO, EXCELLENT Idea! :thumbsup:

[Scout]

8. i had thought of that too ... the tornado alert siren or similar notification n/t

[blonndee]

9. At my campus, they're testing a phone notification tomorrow

that's been in the works for some time now. Kind of like the "code red alerts" that my city uses--a mass dialing to all phone numbers listed and registered. So if students don't get the test message tomorrow, they've been directed to go to a link at the school website to update their information.

. . .
<snip>
In a response to Tuesday’s events, Boren is sending a letter today to tell students about a new emergency communication system OU has been implementing during the past few months.

The new emergency system “will allow the university to contact students, faculty and staff within minutes by telephone, e-mail and instant messaging.”

The new system is already in place and will be tested at noon Friday, according to the statement.

If students do not receive the test messages, it may indicate their contact information is not up-to-date. OU will provide a Web site where students can use to update their information later in the week, according to the statement.

<snip>

http://hub.ou.edu/articles/article.php?article_id=841866485&search_id=1843698977

[tblue37]

11. But for that to work you would need to check your phone.

The siren would be a passive alert system--everyone would get alerted, whether they were checking their phone, looking at their email, watching TV, listening to radio, or not.

And if people were also told that when the siren was turned on they should check their radios, TV, or text or phone messages, then they could get more info that way. The siren alert would just mean: There has been an incident on campus involving deadly violence. Seek further information immediately.

Even a deaf person like me would hear about it from other people who did hear the siren.

[BlackVelvet04]

10. They have a siren and loudspeaker system.....

the siren was engaged after the second shooting.

[EFerrari]

12. Wouldn't you need redundant systems? Text message and siren

or something like that?

[tblue37]

13. I would think so. But again, by setting off a siren, they would be signaling

people to check other sources as well, for more detailed information.

That is how tornado sirens work. People take cover and turn on their weather radios.

[EFerrari]

14. Interesting. In San Francisco where it means, lunchtime.

:)

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

15. I thought using text messages to every students phone...

would be effective...Such as EMERGENCY - Shooter, Take cover! could be used for Tornadoes, or bomb threats, fires too..

[tblue37]

16. But not every student has a cell phone.

Not every student who has a cell phone cehcks for text messages every minute.

And many people--like me--are older and not in possesssion of a cell phone.

I teach at a large state university. I don't allow my students in the classroom to pull out their phones and check for text messages. I don't own a cell phone. I would like a system that didn't rely on technology that not everyone has and that those who do have do not necessarily check every minute.

Among my students, the ones who are least likely to have cell phones are the ones with least money. Not everyone has a cell phone. For some reason, the whole country seems to assume that everyone has a cell phone and that everyone texts. Heck, not everyone even has email.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

17. Not every student has to have one... Word would spread like a wildfire

at least a trial test should be tried to see how soon everyone would know of an emergency