Polk State College, Florida has announced that it is partnering with mass notification system Everbridge to provide important alert notifications as they happen and allow those on campus to easily report suspicious and dangerous activity or call for help.
According to Polk State, all active students and employees will receive Everbridge alerts automatically. Alerts will be sent in the event of emergencies or dangerous situations occurring on campus that involve an immediate threat to students’ or employees’ health or safety. Notifications will also be sent in the event of inclement weather, natural disasters or other unforeseen and immediate conditions that may affect the health and safety of students or employees.
To maximize safety, students and employees will be encouraged to download the Everbridge application on their smartphones, available for Apple and Android. Everbridge is available to each of Florida’s public colleges and universities at no cost to the institutions.
The app will include two new features, including a panic feature, which allows students and employees to report a suspicious incident or call for help. Users can push an “Emergency” panic button on their phones, which calls 911, alerts security and allows Polk State and law enforcement personnel to respond to their location.
“Having a mobile app specific to campus security is a great thing,” said Robert Stack, Polk State’s Chief Information Officer. “It’s ubiquitous at colleges and universities throughout Florida and has a very good track record.”
Alerts will be sent (in this order) via the app, text message, phone call and email. Recipients will be asked to confirm they received the alert. Once confirmed, the alerts won’t be sent to the other means of communication. For example, if the confirmation is given after the app alert, no text message, phone call nor email will be necessary.