In an effort to boost school safety measures, the Oakland University Police Department is implementing a text alert service designed to reach students, faculty and staff across campus.
According to a report from The Oakland Post, this service will alert recipients when there is a major threat and the police determines that safety could be compromised without instant action. As campus safety continues to become a problem in some colleges and universities across the country, there is hope that this program will go a long way in protecting everyone who entrusts school officials to keep them safe.
Samuel Lucido, chief of the Oakland University Police Department, sent an email to students describing the service and announced that a test would be conducted on Tuesday. Lucido asked students and staff to respond to signify a connection was made, as well as encourage others to sign up for the service.
"In the event of any crisis situation, information will reach you automatically though most of our communication methods," Lucido said. "To fully utilize our most efficient method, however, we need your help."
This service is valuable because it reaches a large number of people in a short amount of time. Emailing emergency warnings is not as effective because not every phone has email capabilities and, typically, students won't all be at their desks and on their computers when an emergency alert comes through. SMS alerts can relay pertinent information right away without distracting the recipient with any necessary components to the message.
Organizations looking to bolster their security efforts would benefit from implementing this service and sending emergency texts, but it must operate correctly in order to be effective. Swift SMS Gateway offers the tools needed to initiate a strong emergency text alert program.
