Texting to be used in alert system

An emergency mass alert system via text messaging has been worked out between the University of Montana’s Office of Public Safety and UM’s Information Technology Office in the event of a campus-wide crisis.

Director of Public Safety Jim Lemcke said he met with UM’s IT department on Thursday and a comprehensive plan has been worked out.

“Once operational I’m sure there will be a live test,” Lemcke said.

Beginning possibly in April, phone numbers will be collected from faculty, staff and students in order to make a database for a pre-made, context-sensitive message to be distributed in a campus emergency.

A dispatcher can then fill in the blanks referring to specific details.

“Our dispatcher or other authorized person can activate the dashboard, fill in the brief narrative field describing the incident and location where further information can be obtained,” Lemcke said.

Lemcke said agreements are being made between UM and the Missoula Disaster and Emergency Services that operate the county’s reverse 911 system.

A message would be distributed to all e-mails, all subscriber cell phones no matter the carrier and the UM home page.

There has been a recent concern at the national level for more efficient emergency notification systems on college campus’ in the wake of last April’s shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. where a student killed two in a dormitory, then 30 more about an hour later in a building across campus.

Students were not notified that a shooter was at large before the second, more deadly spree of killings took place.

Five students were also killed, and 16 wounded, last Thursday at the Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill.

The shooting took place in a lecture hall before the shooter took his own life.