Campus in shock - UHM advances alert system

Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: News
By Tiffany Hill
Ka Leo Associate News Editor

With the horrific massacre shooting that occurred Monday at Virginia Tech, many universities, including the University of Hawaii at Manoa, have turned their focus onto whether they would be prepared for similar situation.

The person most in charge of coordinating disaster relief efforts is Mel Won, the UH Emergency Planning Coordinator. Emergency planning includes a variety of emergency types, from natural disasters such as the earthquakes last October, to terrorist attacks and school shootings. The university has also recently taken steps for a more advanced campus-wide alert notification.

"ITS purchased the automated notification service that opens up to all the campuses ... we are in the process of putting together and creating the procedures so it can work," said Won.

Won is currently undergoing training in the U.S. Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program in order to receive federal funding for the university's emergency planning program, including funding for expenditures such as an emergency response center, which is currently a conference room in Hawai'i Hall.

"[The training] encompasses all kinds of disasters," said Won, but added that it does not necessarily focus on shootings. The program is focused on training Won to be prepared in civil emergency management.

Won said that the shooting in Virginia is an isolated case but that the UH emergency plan has included provisions for terrorist attacks. According to the emergency planning Web site, a mass casualty shooting falls under the category of terrorist attacks.

"The emergency plan is supposed to encompass all types of disasters," said Won, but added that all types deserve equal attention.

"I think [being prepared for a school shooting] is something that the university will work together and decide what to do. This is something that is a priority and I can tell you right now that it is a priority of the administration," said Won.

Won added that some time this month, the university is going to test an alert roster, in which administration officials on a phone tree roster will notify each other as if it was a real emergency. Won is also working with the State Civil Defense concerning hurricane disaster preparedness.

Won's recommendation for students is to become familiar with the emergency plan as it continually being further developed.

Overall Won said he feels the campus is safe. "The worst thing I see is a hurricane [happening on campus]," adding they are improving preparedness regarding natural disasters and have more experience in this area with the floods in 2004, and the earthquakes last semester.
Campus Security

"If a similar situation happened hear [like at Virginia Tech] our protocol would be to secure the scene of the shooting. We would set up a perimeter and secure the area and ... [and then] we would contact HPD," said UH Campus Security Chief Neal Sakamoto, who added that they have a good working relationship with the Honolulu Police Department.

Sakamoto stated that once the scene of the incident is secured, Campus Security would notify the administration, such as UH interim Chancellor Denise Konan, as they would authorize Campus Security operations and also notify the remaining campus.

Sakamoto said, in shooting cases a mass email would be sent to all students and faculty. "We also have telephone notification for the different deans of the different colleges and the would have to notify the rest of the faculty, staff [and] students as fast as possible. We do not have a [public address system].

He stated that the university wants to get a PA system and have discussed its advantages and begun to research prices. "One of the things we noticed after the blackout and earthquake in October was we didn't have a way to notify everybody especially because the power went out so the email went down, then the phone system went down and presently our vehicles don't have any kind of PA"

The PA system on the Campus Security vehicles would allow them to prerecord messages for the different types of emergencies and then during would allow them to drive around campus broadcasting the message.

Sakamoto said he believes that, given the situation and probably limited amount of information, the Virginia Tech Campus Security responded in the best way possible.

"The university has the system now besides the mass email where we can notify people by cell phone, or blackberry or whatever. We [Sakamoto and Won] have been working on that trying to set up the system so we can do a notification with the rest of the campus," Sakamoto said.

Like Won, Sakamoto and his staff are continuing to train in natural disaster preparedness as well, but that they are also discussing terrorist emergencies like a school shooting even though the Virginia Tech campus shooting was the first of its kind.

"It was a rare occurrence and an unusual occurrence, but no matter how much police or security we have we can't prevent everything, we just try to do the best we can," said Sakamoto. "I pray it never [happens here] but I can't say it won't."

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Original Source: The Voice - Ka Leo
<a href="http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/04/18/News/Campus.In.Shock-2848704.shtml">http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/04/18/News/Campus.In.Shock-2848704.shtml</a>
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Tiffany Hill

2008-03-12

Kacey Beddoes

Kumari Sherreitt <editor@kaleo.org>

eng

Security alerts prompt Faculty Senate meeting

Kendra Jones
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: News

The University of Hawai&#39;i at Mānoa Faculty Senate Committee is scheduled to discuss campus security issues today at 3 p.m. in the Architecture Auditorium. The meeting is open to UH students.

At a Faculty Senate Committee meeting on Nov. 21, the faculty senate unanimously affirmed that the campus community needs to be alerted to threats in a timelier manner while using better methods.

During that meeting, a question arose from the faculty members about the obligation to notify the campus immediately and allow room for people to decide how to react for themselves. There was also concern that an Oct. 25 e-mail alert was too brief, vague and an insufficient way to notify the campus community.

A mass e-mail notification was sent Oct. 25 by Campus Security to UH students and staff regarding a man who was overheard talking to himself about planning to shoot 30 UH students. It was not included in the e-mail that the suspect was known to the Honolulu Police Department and had a history of mental illness.

Laura Saiki-Chaves, vice president of Associated Students of the University of Hawai&#39;i said, "When it comes to alerting students of the possible dangers on campus, we believe that no measure is too small. Though e-mail alerts were sent to students, it was definitely not enough. There were many students who ... had absolutely no idea about the security alert."

"E-mail is useful for those who may be sitting in front of their computer at the time of the incident, but by large is woefully inadequate," said Jerome Comcowich, a committee member from the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology.

Comcowich said he thought a more effective way to notify the campus would be to have security vehicles use their public address system to broadcast a warning throughout the entire campus.

Gregg Takayama, UH director of communications, said the response would have been more intensive had HPD considered it a serious threat. Enabling the campus-wide PA system would have resulted in major campus disruptions, Takayama added.

Takayama told the committee that had the threat been immediate, the loudspeakers would have been utilized. Radio and TV stations would have been asked to broadcast an emergency message. He also said that many buildings on campus have fire alarm systems that can be enabled to make public announcements.

These systems, however, have not been tested and not all of the fire alarms have been retrofitted to function as PA systems, the committee members were told.

"If we as a nation learned anything about the Virginia Tech shootings (it) is that having an efficient alert system can not and must not be overlooked," Saiki-Chaves said.

UH is currently looking into including mass text messaging as a means of notifying students and faculty of emergencies, Takayama said. Takayama added that Information Technology Services will be testing a mass text-messaging system at the end of this year. If the tests are successful, ITS hopes the system will be available for students to volunteer their cell phone numbers by early next year.

"The idea of sending mass text messages is excellent," Saiki-Chaves said. "A person would not have to be connected to the Internet or checking their e-mail to be notified, as it would happen instantly via their cell phone."

Members present at the student affairs meeting agreed that security should have broadcast the information to the campus community immediately because many people had no knowledge of the threat.

Many people, including Sheri Fong, an assistant professor for anatomy, biochemistry and physiology, have said that had they known sooner, they would have opted to stay away from the campus that afternoon.

"I&#39;m disappointed with UH&#39;s general handling of the situation," said senior Caitlin Jackson, a kinesiology major. "I&#39;m stressed out enough with classes; I shouldn&#39;t have to worry about my safety being compromised."

In contrast, freshman Troy Muenzer said, "UH Campus Security did a perfect job, and I feel safe seeing that they were taking action and communicating with HPD."

Several people said while they were nervous and felt vulnerable being on campus, they went to class anyway. Stacy Little, a senior speech pathology and audiology major, said, "I did know about it, and I still attended class because I guess we live in a world where we think, &#39;It won&#39;t happen to me.&#39;"

Some other recommendations from Faculty Senate Committee members at the last meeting to improve campus security:

* Set up a campus hot line for emergency situations.

* Consider creating an automated mass telephone alert system to call all campus numbers during an emergency or a threat. An automated warning would give directions, such as directing people to check their e-mail or a designated Web site.

* Use the blue campus phone system as an emergency alert system. The blue lights would flash to cue people to check their e-mail or a campus hot line for further information.

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Original Source: The Voice - Ka Leo
<a href="http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/12/05/News/Security.Alerts.Prompt.Faculty.Senate.Meeting-3133290.shtml">http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2007/12/05/News/Security.Alerts.Prompt.Faculty.Senate.Meeting-3133290.shtml</a>

Kendra Jones

2008-03-12

Kacey Beddoes

Kumari Sherreitt <editor@kaleo.org>

eng