Emory University issued an emergency alert to campus Tuesday morning, Aug. 11, due to an incident involving DeKalb County Police who were pursuing possibly armed suspects on and around the Emory campus after a reported off-campus carjacking. The community was notified again once DeKalb Police determined the area was clear.
The public safety alerts are part of the Emory Emergency Notification program, a multi-modal system designed to immediately alert all students, staff, faculty and visitors of an emergency affecting the Emory community.
Notifications include text messages, email, outdoor sirens, social media and alerts posted to the Emory homepage (www.emory.edu). To date, the program has been used most often for severe weather notifications. The Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) and other university officials review processes and responses after Emory-wide alerts to continue to improve communications to the community.
For further instructions on what to do during a campus emergency, check out information and links available on the CEPAR website, including:
"Just in Time" Guide to Campus Emergencies, for both Atlanta and Oxford campuses.
Preparedness Checklist, which provides handy reminders for advance actions to take and numbers that can be called in the event of an emergency or campus accident.
"Run, Hide, Fight" video, which offers safety tips on what to do in the event of an active shooter in the workplace or classroom.
More ways to be prepared
There are simple steps individuals can take now that will pay off when severe weather or unexpected emergencies occur in the future, according to CEPAR.
Consider adding these tasks to your own safety preparedness plan:
Enroll or update your personal contact information in Emory's Emergency Notification Program.
Program two "short codes" into your list of cell phone contacts — 226787 and 678283 — accompanied by unique ringtones, so that you will be able to quickly identify Emory emergency alerts.
Program the emergency numbers for the Emory (404-727-6111) or Oxford (770-784-8377) police departments into your cellphone.
Enter an "In Case of Emergency" number into your cellphone and establish a personal communication plan. Do friends and family know how to contact you in the event of an emergency?
Know how to exit your building if the primary pathway/door is blocked.
Follow campus signage to locate shelters in the event of severe weather.
Consider taking a basic first aid or CPR class. Your ability to respond in a crisis could help those around you.
For more information, visit emergency.emory.edu.