PURPOSE / SCOPE:
ICOM will issue an Emergency Notification upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on campus.
POLICY:
The following list of situations, or similar circumstances, could require an Emergency Notification:
- A potential life-threatening situation on the campus (active shooter or bomb threat)
- A building emergency (gas leak, hazardous material spill, etc.)
- Extreme weather conditions (official weather warnings)
- Unplanned college closures (for weather, power outages, etc.)
In considering the issuance of an Emergency Notification, ICOM will, without delay, and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the Notification and initiate the Notification, unless issuing a Notification will, in the professional judgement of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to or otherwise mitigate the emergency.
One of the following individuals or their designee will assess the situation and determine if a circumstance warrants an Emergency Notification:
- Director of Campus Security;
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The Director of Facilities
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The on-duty Campus Security Officer;
Once an emergency or dangerous situation has been confirmed by one or more of the individuals listed above, they will authorize the Emergency Notification. ICOM Campus Security or their designee will create the Emergency Notification for broadcast.
As time permits, the individual authorizing the Emergency Notification will ensure that the ICOM President and/or the ICOM Dean are aware of the situation if they were not on campus at the time of the Notification.
Content of the Emergency Notification Message
- ICOM Campus Security will determine the content of the Emergency Notification by assessing the situation and choosing an appropriate message for the Emergency Notification.
- Some of the following factors could influence the content of the final message: armed suspects, bomb threat, fire, hazardous materials incidence, shooting, street closure, or weather-related emergency.
- Names of victims, if any, will be treated as confidential and withheld.
Emergency Notification/Method of Distribution
- ICOM Campus Security will send Emergency Notifications through the Alertus Mass Notification system. The Dukane building paging system may also be utilized if necessary.
- In the event Campus Security is unavailable to issue an Alertus message or building page, the Director of Facilities or Director of IT can issue the alert.
- The Director of Communications may send information about the Notification via social media to the general public and the media, if appropriate.
Recipients of the Emergency Notification
Under most circumstances, ICOM will send its entire community an Emergency Notification. If sending the Notification to some members of the campus community and not others becomes necessary, then some, but not all of these factors will be considered: type of Emergency, location of Emergency, or the possibility the Emergency will become more dangerous.
Emergency Status Updates and “All Clear” Notifications
- Emergency Notification status updates will be made when new information or instructions are available.
- An “All Clear” Notification indicates the emergency situation has been contained.
- All Clear Notifications must be approved by the Director of Campus Security, the on-duty Campus Security Officer, or the Director of Facilities.
If a situation is believed to present a significant emergency or dangerous situation to the larger community outside of the ICOM campus, the on-duty Campus Security Officer, or their designee, will notify the 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatch Center.
Timely Warnings
ICOM will issue a Timely Warning if a Clery Act crime is reported within campus Clery geography, and is considered by the college to represent an ongoing threat to students and/or employees. The decision to broadcast a Timely Warning is determined on a case-by-case basis, and will take into consideration: the nature of the crime, the continuing danger to the campus community, and the possible risk of compromising law enforcement efforts. Timely Warnings will be distributed to the entire ICOM community via the ICOM email accounts of all employees and students.
If there is an immediate threat to the health or safety of students and/or employees occurring on campus, ICOM will follow its Emergency Notification procedures.
ICOM may, in appropriate circumstances, include personally identifiable information (PII) in a timely warning. Although personally identifiable information is generally protected from disclosure under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), such information may be released in a Timely Warning.
The Director of Campus Security will normally disseminate Timely Warnings. Other ICOM officials authorized to issue Timely Warnings include the President, the Dean, the Director of Facilities, or any member of Campus Security. The Director of Communications should be consulted, when practicable, in drafting the message to the ICOM community.
ICOM may elect to issue an alert for other crimes, or crimes that occur outside of our campus property as determined on a case-by-case basis.
PRIMARY POLICY OWNER:
Director of Campus Security
APPROVAL:
Effective: 10/25/21
Last Reviewed: 2/14/23
Review Requirement: 3 Years