POL 04.25.12 - Emergency Notification System Policy

About this Policy

Authority:
Chancellor
Responsible Office:
Chief of Police
Date Established:
03-18-2025

1. Purpose

1.1 The Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (the Clery Act) is a federal law that requires institutions of higher education to establish policies related to Clery crimes and issue notifications related to those crimes to the campus community.

1.2 UNC Pembroke has an Emergency Notification System (ENS) which can rapidly disseminate emergency information and provide instructions to the UNC Pembroke campus community. This policy identifies the required performance standards and capabilities of the ENS and the university employees responsible for the ENS.

2. Technical Characteristics and Capabilities

2.1 The University's ENS shall be able to disseminate emergency notifications and information on multiple channels.

2.1.1 Channels of communications include text, email, telephone, digital screen, website postings, social media postings, and audio alerts.

2.2 The ENS shall be able to disseminate emergency notifications and information quickly.

2.3 The ENS shall be designed to minimize the number of technical steps required to issue emergency notifications. The design of the system shall be periodically reviewed, and new technologies shall be integrated seamlessly.

2.4 The ENS shall incorporate redundancies so the emergency notifications and information can be disseminated to the widest number of channels possible; even if the power or network connections fail.

2.5 Current Systems and Associated Channels

2.5.1. Blue Light Phones (Emergency Call Boxes). Located throughout campus, blue light phones are constantly monitored and allow for two-way emergency communications. The speakers in the call box broadcast emergency notifications.

2.5.2. Outdoor Tower System. The university's outdoor tower system consists of two separate specially designed and strategically placed 50-foot towers outfitted with powerful speakers. The system is designed for immediate campus-wide notification of a serious emergency. Campus Police can use voice broadcasts to notify the campus community of an emergency.

2.5.3. Brave Alert. Software (brand name RAVE) that notifies the campus of emergencies via telephone, email, and text. Students, faculty and staff are automatically opted into Brave Alert.

2.5.4. LiveSafe app. A mobile phone app that enables two-way communications between users and Campus Police and which displays emergency notifications on the user's mobile phone.

2.5.5 Alertus. A software system that integrates all channels of communications (Brave Alert's text, email, telephone; callboxes; outdoor speakers; as well as computer screens; telephone screens; and certain large digital displays) and is used to send an emergency notification from one software screen to all channels in one step (excluding Live Safe).

2.5.6 Campus Website. Emergency notifications are posted to the university's website by staff in University Communications and Marketing (UCM).

2.5.7 Campus social media accounts. Emergency notifications can be posted to the university's social media accounts by staff in University Communications and Marketing (UCM).

2.5.8. Campus phone line. The campus can create a recorded line with emergency messages.

2.5.9. Campus Email Lists. UCM maintains email lists including an “all-campus” which can be used to disseminate emergency notifications from an email application. Campus Police also have access to the “all-campus” email list.

3. Emergency Notification SYSTEM Message Characteristics

3.1 All UNC Pembroke ENS messages will contain, at a minimum, the following information in this order:

3.1.1. nature of the incident;

3.1.2. location; and

3.1.3. actions to be taken by affected populations.

3.2 UNC Pembroke ENS messages, regardless of the channel used, will consist of no more than 160 characters (the maximum number of characters available in a SMS message).

3.2.1 Additional or subsequent messaging via non ENS channels may use additional characters, as appropriate, to convey more information. As soon as possible following the issuance of an emergency message, the UNC Pembroke homepage, social media sites, and the emergency information hotline (910.521.6888) will contain additional and/or supplemental information about the alert and/or the incident. These will provide instructions for:

3.2.2. obtaining additional detailed information if university programs and/or services are interrupted;

3.2.2.1. receiving additional updates and information; and/or

3.2.2.2. reporting information.

3.3 Templates

3.3.1 To speed the time to dissemination, the campus emergency alert authority shall create emergency message templates to address different types of situations. These templates will be preloaded in the ENS so that only a few specific pieces of information need to be added before the notification is issued.

4. Roles and Responsibilities

4.1 The Chief of Police is designated as the campus emergency alert authority.

4.1.1. The campus emergency alert authority has principal responsibility for the ENS including design, training, maintenance, and testing.

4.1.2. The Chief of Police shall designate two other members of Campus Police to serve as alternate campus emergency alert authorities.

4.1.3 The campus emergency alert authority has principal responsibility to establish standardized emergency messaging templates and shall approve any edits to the messages.

4.1.4. The campus emergency alert authority shall participate in training on emergency notification requirements of the Clery Act and any other emergency communications-related topics as may be required by the UNC System vice president for campus safety and risk management.

4.2 Roles with the Ability to “Issue” Messages via the ENS

4.2.1 All telecommunicators in the Campus Police shall have the ability to “issue” emergency notifications through the ENS.

4.2.2 The Executive Director of UCM and two designees of the Executive Director of UCM within UCM shall have the ability to “issue” emergency notifications through the ENS.

4.3 Repository of Emergency Messages sent via the ENS

4.3.1 The Director of the Emergency Operations Center shall maintain a repository of emergency notification system messages from the most recent seven calendar years or as otherwise required by federal law and shall provide this information to the UNC System vice president for campus safety and enterprise risk management in any requested format or system designated for this purpose.

5. Training, Testing and Oversight Requirements

5.1. Training

5.1.1. All newly hired individuals with the ability to issue an emergency notification in the ENS shall receive training on the steps to send out an emergency notification via the primary and redundant means within 10 days of their start date. The training shall culminate with the initiation of test messages to a prescribed receivers list (i.e. not campus-wide). Such training shall be documented.

5.1.2. Further, all individuals with the ability to issue an emergency notification in the ENS shall receive training annually on the steps to send out an emergency notification via the primary and redundant means. The training shall culminate with the initiation of test messages to a prescribed receivers list (i.e. not campus-wide). Such training shall be documented.

5.1.3 Training documentation shall be maintained by the campus emergency alert authority.

5.2 Testing

5.2.1 The ENS, including redundancies, shall be tested quarterly. The tests shall be documented.

5.2.2 Testing documentation shall be maintained by the campus emergency alert authority.

5.2.3 The campus emergency alert authority will remedy any deficiencies discovered during testing in a timely manner through redesign, training, maintenance, or any other means required.

5.2.4 The campus emergency alert authority shall ensure that the databases containing phone numbers and email addresses used by the ENS are updated every semester. The Department of Information Technology shall provide and support the technical means to accomplish the updates and audit the database updates to ensure accuracy of data.

5.3 Oversight

5.3.1 The university's chief audit officer shall at least annually evaluate the university's compliance with this policy. The chief audit officer, or his or her designee, shall report the findings of their campus emergency communication and alert system's compliance to the board of trustees' Compliance, Audit, Risk Management, and IT Governance (CARMIT) Committee on at least an annual basis.

6. Legal Notice

6.1. The information contained in this policy has been prepared for use by UNC Pembroke. The information is guidance for issuance of an emergency notification, recognizing that individual circumstance or events not anticipated by this policy may occur. The experience and judgment of those utilizing the policy is an important consideration in how and when the policy is utilized and when a notification is issued. The content represents the best opinions on the subject. No warranty, guarantee, or representation is made by the university as to the sufficiency of the information contained herein and the university assumes no responsibility in connection therewith. This policy is intended to provide guidelines for safe practices; therefore, it cannot be assumed that all plausible and non-plausible scenarios are contained in this document, or that other or additional information or measures may not be required.

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