New emergency notification system planned

A more effective method for getting weather warnings and other emergency statements to the University community will be in place later this month.

SIUC police officer and Disaster Resource Coordinator Deb Cocke and corporal Brad Barham discuss the new hand-held emergency radios to be distributed on campus later this month. The radios will provide quicker notification by police of severe weather warnings and other emergencies on campus.

The 150 hand-held emergency radios will be distributed in buildings throughout campus; they are preset to receive information via Department of Public Safety telecommunicators. The transmissions are on a specific UHF frequency for emergency purposes only.

The goal is to have radios in each building on campus, said police officer and Disaster Resource Coordinator Deb Cocke. Several radios will be in more populated buildings, such as the Student Center. Departments can buy additional radios to augment their needs, and those with mobile radios with open programmable channels can have the frequency added.

Public Safety Director Todd D. Sigler said he does not know of many places with this kind of warning system, and it is a "rather unique option" of notifying the campus. Funding came from the Chancellor’s office and DPS, he said.

"We feel this is a valuable addition to the various ways of notifying the campus of a potential emergency situation," Sigler said. "Our dispatchers will be able to activate the frequency from their console and give out specific directions to the campus."

A tone alert followed by a message will be heard in the event of severe weather warnings or other emergencies where the campus is affected. The warnings could include large-scale emergencies such as a train derailment or situations where certain buildings need to be evacuated, Cocke said.

Because notification is nearly instantaneous, Cocke estimates a savings of 10 minutes compared to the previous system, which relied on 75 phone-tree calls -- provided someone was there to answer a telephone. Another benefit is the radios also provide an easier way to send messages that weather warnings have expired.

Radios will also be distributed to campus facilities at Southern Illinois Airport, Touch of Nature Environmental Center, and the Coal Research Center and Automotive Technology Center in Carterville.

Cocke and safety officer Jim Hancock of the Center for Environmental Health and Safety have been going throughout campus to determine the buildings where receivers will be located.

Federal Communications Commission approval to obtain the unused frequency took two years, Cocke said.

The radios will be inventoried annually, she said.