UCLA Campus Mass Warning Systems
David Burns CEM - Emergency Manager at UCLA
At UCLA, the Emergency Management Office Director administers the campus mass warning systems. Many campuses rely on first responders (police or security) to issue mass warnings, and many have failed to establish clear policy, delegation of authority, and testing/training procedures.
UCLA conducted a systemwide assessment, established policy and procedure, and delegation of authority for issuing mass warnings before buying a mass warning system - most folks are doing this process in reverse, which contributes to many failures. UCLA Policy & Procedure is based on the following:
* Pre-defined the agency responsible for the campus mass warning system (UCLA EM);
* Pre-defined the types of emergencies and response levels for mass notifications (15 clear, 30 other possible events that require some element of confirmation);
* Defined minimum message content components;
* Defined Roles & Authorities to Activate Mass Warning Systems;
* Defined delegation of authority to issue alerts;
* Defined delegation of authority for managing mass warning system components;
* Defined a mandatory schedule for tests (quarterly).
The policies are based on the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), not NFPA 72. NFPA is elective, not mandatory. HEOA is statutory.
It is our desire to stay out of the newspapers. To date, we have not had a system failure in nearly 2 years of operation. We employ 3 staff who carry laptops and can activate our systems via Internet. We are integrated (interoperable), so we are not required to be physically at the campus with the mass warning hardware. We can activate the ENS system at 2:00 pm or 2:00 am.
Our police department has no affiliation with the campus ENS system. Our ENS messages are all pre-scripted, 140 character max, vetted by our media relations office, and all we need to do is add the location of the incident. We've tried to take decisions out of the process, the decisions are already made, we just need to do focus on the crisis. Many folks are making this up as they go along, no procedures, no pre-canned messages, no idea of what, when or how the system will be used. Bad Idea!
I even read one East Coast police chief say in one recent media statement that, "xxPD" does not have any set guidelines for sending out these (ENS) messages, but evaluates each instance on a case-by-case basis"
Our campus Police Department has no relationship to the campus mass warning system. However, they are our partners under the Clery Act, so they play an important role in confirmation of a life threatening incident as the field response experts. The UCLA Emergency Management Office directs the activation of the campus mass warning system. The staff is trained. The policies are clear. Delegation of authority is clear.
