The Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) recently released a new website that will allow better communication on emergencies, weather events and other vital information. The website is alerts.longwood.edu, and is linked to the current campus alert system, e2campus. The e2campus alert system was launched this past summer and allows communication from the LUPD to the community via email and text message.
Members of the Longwood University and Farmville communities are able to sign up for these alert messages, including students, faculty, staff, parents of students, alumni and residents in the Town of Farmville. Chief of LUPD Bob Beach said that the new website allows more integration of e2campus into the Longwood University network. With this access, the to desktops by allowing alert messages to show up on the screen.
The hashtag, #SafeAtLongwood, is also being pushed for usage in social media accounts during major emergencies on campus. According to the alerts.
Longwood website, “Cell service may be down during a major crisis. This is one way you can let friends and family know you’re safe.”
Words with the hashtag sign, or #, allow one to search relevant posts on social media more easily. By clicking on words with the hashtag symbol, one may view posts by users who have used that particular hashtag.
According to the Twitter website, “The # symbol ... is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created originally by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.”
Beach said that he sees the move to further social media usage during moments of crisis as a good thing, saying, “If something significant is happening on campus, the whole community, so being able to reach as many people as possible in a time of critical incident is important.”
Beach stated that he will be working on the policies for the alerts. Longwood website throughout the next few weeks.
One further development that will occur is the relocation of one of the siren towers on the roof of the Cunningham Residence Halls once they are demolished. The siren tower will move over to Stubbs Hall.
The alerts.Longwood website will report on three different levels of emergencies and crises. The first level is code red, which means that there is a direct and imminent threat to the campus.
This includes inclement weather, such as a tornado that has hit the ground, an active shooter or a hazardous spill. Code red emergencies involve a siren alert, a text alert, an email alert as well as an alert on the Longwood University and alerts. Longwood websites. emergency that the alerts. Longwood website will report on is under a banner of yellow. This level of emergency involves critical information that needs to be sent and requires action.
One example of this type of emergency is if students living in the Longwood Landings need to be notified to move their vehicles from the parking lot behind the Longwood Landings during a severe storm that may flood the parking lot.
The siren alert system on campus is not set off during this level of emergency. A text alert, an email alert and an alert will be posted on the Longwood University and alerts.Longwood websites.
The third level of emergency that the alerts. Longwood website will report on is under a clear banner. This level of emergency includes information that is critical and needs to be known by a large volume of people.
Beach said that one previous alert system that the LUPD used included Network. He commented that Longwood has gone through different software and network providers to find the best alert system for the campus, stating that past alert systems had “some glitches.”
Beach said he learned of e2campus through recommendations from colleagues around the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As the fall semester soon comes to an end, Beach advised students to prepare for Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break.
“If you’re living on campus or off campus, make sure that you secure up your stuff,” Beach said.
He added, “Between us and the Town of Farmville, we’re going to be making a very concerted effort to stay on top of that, but every year, there are those that will take advantage of students leaving, and fewer eyes and fewer ears to hear and see, and [they will] try to take advantage to steal stuff.”
Despite this, Beach described Longwood University as “a fairly safe community.”
LUPD is able to send alerts to desktops by allowing alert messages to show up on the screen.
The hashtag, #SafeAtLongwood, is also being pushed for usage in social media accounts during major emergencies on campus. According to the alerts.
Longwood website, “Cell service may be down during a major crisis. This is one way you can let friends and family know you’re safe.”
Words with the hashtag sign, or #, allow one to search relevant posts on social media more easily. By clicking on words with the hashtag symbol, one may view posts by users who have used that particular hashtag.
According to the Twitter website, “The # symbol ... is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created originally by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.”
Beach said that he sees the move to further social media usage during moments of crisis as a good thing, saying, “If something significant is happening on campus, it very well can affect the whole community, so being able to reach as many people as possible in a time of critical incident is important.”
Beach stated that he will be working on the policies for the alerts. Longwood website throughout the next few weeks.
One further development that will occur is the relocation of one of the siren towers on the roof of the Cunningham Residence Halls once they are demolished. The siren tower will move over to Stubbs Hall.
The alerts. Longwood website will report on three different levels of emergencies and crises. The first level is code red, which means that there is a direct and imminent threat to the campus.
This includes inclement weather, such as a tornado that has hit the ground, an active shooter or a hazardous spill.
Code red emergencies involve a siren alert, a text alert, an email alert as well as an alert on the Longwood University and alerts.Longwood websites.
The second level of emergency that the alerts. Longwood website will report on is under a banner of yellow. This level of emergency involves critical information that needs to be sent and requires action.
One example of this type of emergency is if students living in the Longwood Landings need to be notified to move their vehicles from the parking lot behind the Longwood Landings during a severe storm that may flood the parking lot.
The siren alert system on campus is not set off during this level of emergency. A text alert, an email alert and an alert will be posted on the Longwood University and alerts.Longwood websites.
The third level of emergency that the alerts. Longwood website will report on is under a clear banner. This level of emergency includes information that is critical and needs to be known by a large volume of people.
Beach said that one previous alert system that the LUPD used included Roam Secure Alert Network. He commented that Longwood has gone through different software and network providers to find the best alert system for the campus, stating that past alert systems had “some glitches.”
Beach said he learned of e2campus through recommendations from colleagues around the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As the fall semester soon comes to an end, Beach advised students to prepare for Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break.
“If you’re living on campus or off campus, make sure that you secure up your stuff,” Beach said.
He added, “Between us and the Town of Farmville, we’re going to be making a very concerted effort to stay on top of that, but every year, there are those that will take advantage of students leaving, and fewer eyes and fewer ears to hear and see, and [they will] try to take advantage to steal stuff.”
Despite this, Beach described Longwood University as “a fairly safe community.”
