Virginia Tech Massacre: DPS fast-tracks search for new alert technology

As colleges across the country review communication methods in the wake of Monday's massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Division of Public Safety officials say they have been exploring new mass notification technology for over a year.

DPS spokeswoman Karima Zedan said officials are examining comprehensive emergency notification systems that would allow them to send notices via a variety of methods - through cell phones, e-mail, PDAs and home phones and to both the Penn community and students' emergency contacts.

And while this has been an ongoing project for DPS, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said the Virginia Tech tragedy has emphasized the issue's importance.

"We are definitely fast-tracking this and checking the best product for Penn," she said. "Notification by multiple means is definitely the trend that needs to happen."

Officials are exploring both the development of an in-house system and contracting an external vendor, Zedan said. No timeline has been set for the process' completion.

In the wake of Monday's shooting, safety experts have echoed the need for rapid information dispersal.

"What we're telling campuses is that they need to have a wireless alert system, which is basically a text message alert system," said Katherine Andriole of Security on Campus, a nonprofit organization that advocates for increased security awareness on college campuses.

"This way you don't have students walking to class because they didn't check their e-mail," Andriole said. "We just think the whole school needs to be on the same page, because if they're not, you're going to have chaos."

Rush said that current mass-notification procedures include e-mails and posting on various Web sites, and that she hopes future developments will allow safety officials to better reach out to the community.

DPS officials would rather "get the information out" to the community, rather than "making people come to a site," she said.

This accessibility of information is a key benefit of text-message alerts, said Annemarie Mountz, a spokeswoman for Penn State University, which uses the mass-notification system e2Campus for its text-messaging alert system, PSUTXT.

"Text messaging delivers information instantly to people's cell phones, so they can get the information no matter where they are," Mountz wrote in an e-mail.

Rush added that "students are geared toward technology," and she expects a positive student response to new developments in emergency-notification technology.

"Students get information through these means now, and I think it's something they will pay attention to, maybe even more than a fire alarm," she said.

Students also recognize the need for multiple methods of communication during emergencies.

"I don't feel like an e-mail is enough," third-year School of Arts and Sciences graduate student Dan Dowling said.

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