DPS launches emergency text alerts
The new emergency alert system can send up to 18,000 texts per minute.
Nancy Chen
Issue date: 8/22/07 Section: News
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The university has installed the same emergency notification system used during Hurricane Katrina and the 2002 Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings to alert students, faculty and staff of dangerous situations at and around the USC campus.
The TrojansAlert system, operated by the Roam Secure Network, can send messages to e-mail accounts, cell phones, pagers and BlackBerrys. The messages could include "instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, (and) who to contact" in case of an emergency, according to the TrojansAlert website.
Officials began exploring options for an emergency-alert system in response to the Virginia Tech shooting massacre in April, which left 33 dead. University officials nationwide were prompted to re-evaluate their public alert systems after Virginia Tech students complained they did not hear about the first shooting at the university until two hours after it took place, allowing the gunman time to open fire in a second location.
The free service, which students can register for on the Department of Public Safety-administered TrojansAlert website (https://trojansalert.usc.edu), would notify the USC community about "true emergenc(ies) - anything from a Virginia Tech-type situation or in the event of a natural disaster, man-made disaster or criminal acts that present an immediate threat," said DPS Capt. David Carlisle.
With the ability to send 18,000 text messages per minute, "it is the most contemporary and fastest system to get an emergency notification out," he said.
A message sent Aug. 16 to USC e-mail accounts about the system stressed that contact information will be "kept confidential."
"The information is encrypted, and there is a limited access to personnel with administrative access," said Carol Hayes, director of Career and Protective Services, which oversees DPS.
Hayes said only three administrators - her, DPS Chief Carey Drayton and a CAPS staff member - have access to the information.
The TrojansAlert system, operated by the Roam Secure Network, can send messages to e-mail accounts, cell phones, pagers and BlackBerrys. The messages could include "instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, (and) who to contact" in case of an emergency, according to the TrojansAlert website.
Officials began exploring options for an emergency-alert system in response to the Virginia Tech shooting massacre in April, which left 33 dead. University officials nationwide were prompted to re-evaluate their public alert systems after Virginia Tech students complained they did not hear about the first shooting at the university until two hours after it took place, allowing the gunman time to open fire in a second location.
The free service, which students can register for on the Department of Public Safety-administered TrojansAlert website (https://trojansalert.usc.edu), would notify the USC community about "true emergenc(ies) - anything from a Virginia Tech-type situation or in the event of a natural disaster, man-made disaster or criminal acts that present an immediate threat," said DPS Capt. David Carlisle.
With the ability to send 18,000 text messages per minute, "it is the most contemporary and fastest system to get an emergency notification out," he said.
A message sent Aug. 16 to USC e-mail accounts about the system stressed that contact information will be "kept confidential."
"The information is encrypted, and there is a limited access to personnel with administrative access," said Carol Hayes, director of Career and Protective Services, which oversees DPS.
Hayes said only three administrators - her, DPS Chief Carey Drayton and a CAPS staff member - have access to the information.
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