Ever since the VirginiaTech shooting in April 2007 that claimed the lives of 32 students and faculty, college security has become a major issue. Here at Rhode Island College, President John Nazarian organized a 14-member committee to review the college's emergency response policies and procedures just days after those shootings. RIC took another step to add more security on campus with a new 911 system.
From now on, operators at the 911 call center receiving emergency calls from Rhode Island College will have a lot more information on where the call is coming from, including the actual mapped location of the building, floor, room number, and the phone number of the phone being used to make the call, as part of an enhanced calling system recently adopted by the college. Until this new system was employed, calls from the college would register under the college's main address with no further information.
Another added feature is that when 911 is called, the campus security office will also be immediately notified.
RIC has become one of the first public institutions in the state with its own private phone system to implement this detailed, no cost service. With it, the college is now able to maintain its campus phone numbers and their exact locations in the 911 emergency center's database. "Redundancy is an essential element of emergency response effectiveness," said Richard Prull, Assistant Vice President for Information Services at RIC. Prull said that the system is part of a larger campus plan to improve emergency communications with students, faculty and staff. This step follows the addition of a campus wide text message system in the fall. The ability to broadcast emergency messages to phones in each suite in the college's new residence hall will be extended to all residence halls on campus this year. The college also sends emergency information through a global email distribution to students and college personnel, a recorded message on the college's information hotline, regular college website updates, and on the campus radio and television stations.
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