In response to recent tragedies, Sacramento State has begun updating its emergency response system that officials say will allow for more effective communication on campus.

Sac State’s University Police Sgt. Kelly Clark and Vice President of Information, Resources and Technology Vince Gilbert said the campus is currently implementing a mass notification emergency response system. Clark said the first stage of the system should be completed by Saturday.

“Currently, we have the ability to notify all of our (police) personnel on duty, off duty, and that’s via cell phone, that’s via messaging, that’s recorded messages going out to building supervisors and our emergency operations personnel,” Clark said.

Each building on campus has a building supervisor, assistant supervisor and floor manager, all of which can be notified in an emergency, Gilbert said in a telephone interview.

IRT, the division on campus that controls all telephones, will make it possible to notify particular phones or groups of phones anywhere on campus with a recorded message beginning mid-March. The messages will notify on-campus personnel about emergency situations through the use of evacuation information, such as where to go and what to do in the event.

“Suppose there was an incident in Sequoia Hall. We will be able to send telephone messages to other classrooms in Sequoia Hall,” Gilbert said.

The prerecorded messages have certain advantages over having someone call in a message when an incident happens, Gilbert said.

“Using pre-defined messages saves time. We don’t want a situation where someone has to call someone else, who has to call someone else. This system has the capability to avoid this situation.”

The second phase of the emergency response system, slated for the end of March, will include the ability to notify faculty, staff and students using mass e-mails. IRT plans to have the ability to send out text messages to the campus community by May 1.

Gilbert said the text-messaging system doesn’t always work well on campus.

“Many students don’t have their cell phones on during class, and experience from other campuses has shown that only a small percentage of students sign up for the service,” Gilbert said.

The third and final phase was requested by parents and relatives of students.

“This phase would include text messages to reach anyone who is interested, including family of faculty, staff and students,” Clark said. IRT has yet to make a decision as to when, or even if, this phase will be included in the emergency response system.

The emergency response system, based on software installed by the Senate after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., was designed and produced by Mutare Software, an Illinois-based software company that specializes in communications software. The Senate identified a need for rapid response emergency notification systems after Islamic radical terrorists allegedly struck targets in the United States.

Another resource for communication that is being examined at Sac State is the use of electronic signs for emergency notification. Associated Students Inc., the University Union and IRT are interested in having electronic signs for announcements of events across campus.

Proposals were made to the president’s cabinet for six to eight signs at an estimated cost between $15,000 and $50,000 each, depending on the type of sign purchased.University of California, Davis employs a similar system to that of Sac State.

U.C. Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said in an e-mail to the U.C. Davis community that the new system would incorporate simultaneous messages to the university community, including the Davis and Sacramento campuses and other off-campus facilities, by e-mail, telephone, fax, pager, cell phone and text messaging. In addition, U.C. Davis issues messages through its website and through traditional emergency alert systems, such as building-mounted sirens.

William Vizzard, professor and chair of the criminal justice department, said the procedures and training of police officers changed after the April 20, 1999 massacre in which two students killed 12 students, a teacher and injured 23 others before killing themselves at Columbine High School.

“Ever since Columbine, the agencies have radically reshaped their training in their academies and their advanced courses and their management courses on how to respond,” Vizzard said. “Prior to Columbine, the idea was that if you had an incident ? you would contain the scene, bring in the experts, and the SWAT team can get there with their equipment and ninja suits and stuff, and they can handle it.”

In response to the massacre, police departments nationwide re-evaluated procedures for handling school shootings through a new training known as “Active Shooter Protocol.”

“Officers are trained and engage in training on a regular basis to go and address the threat in a more timely manner, and with a very small number of officers to address the threat and minimize the casualties that a suspect is going to inflict,” said Sgt. Matt Young, public information officer for the Sacramento Police Department.

Officers on campus undergo training often side by side with law enforcement agencies from all over California. The collaboration of various police forces helps because when officers are responding to an incident, they all have the same training to deal with the situation, Young said.

Sac State’s emergency response system is similar to the system used at Northern Illinois University in which the campus community communicated Feb. 14 when a student opened fire in a lecture hall, killing five students before killing himself.

Preventing incidents, such as the Illinois shooting, is more difficult than responding to the situation, Young said.

“No one knows what motivates someone to do these kinds of things,” Young said.

Clark advises people to use good judgment and contact police if they see something suspicious or hear of threats.

Annabel Castro, junior graphic design major, said she feels safe on campus because she sees University Police all over campus.

Another student, senior liberal studies major Michelle Sanders, said security could be improved in some areas.

“For the most part I feel safe, except at night. I have an 8:30 p.m. class and there is no security in the parking structures,” Sanders said.

Derek Fleming can be reached at [email protected].