Safety and Security Enhancements Since April 30

CompleteD or Scheduled

Enhanced Police Presence

Police and Public Safety (PPS) had increased highly visible walking and bike patrols throughout the interior of campus August 16-30.

  • PPS used partner patrols with mutual aid agencies (eg. CMPD, Matthews PD, etc.) to augment numbers as needed. 

Increased Bike Patrol Capabilities

PPS purchased 2 new power assisted bicycles for mounted bike patrol officers. This increases interior campus presence while maintaining current response times (average 2.5 minutes for priority calls).

Additional Light Rail Platform Rangers

PPS added and filled 2 positions for ranger security officers on the light rail platform.

Increased Number of ALICE Instructors

PPS increased the number of ALICE instructors from 5 to 13 total instructors, significantly increasing training capacity.

  • Simultaneously, PPS paired one ALICE instructor per college to allow academic leaders better access to the training resources.
  • The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) sent the new Emergency Training and Exercise Coordinator through ALICE instructor training in the fall of 2019.

Community ALICE Training Sessions

There were 8 large training sessions on: July 31; August 8 and 13; September 4, 5, and 11; and October 3 and 10.

  • Additional large-group ALICE sessions will be added based on demand.
  • ALICE trainings (already available in HR’s learning management system) remain on the normal schedule of 1 class per month (35 capacity).
  • The ALICE training curriculum was adapted to include more specific information about NinerAlerts and corresponding action directives.
  • To date (November 2019) over 3,000 students, faculty, and staff have attended ALICE training.

CAPS, DSO, and Safety and Security Faculty/Staff Workshop

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), Dean of Students Office (DSO), and Safety and Security partnered to develop a training workshop to prepare faculty and staff for the first days and weeks of the semester.

  • The workshop was designed to prepare faculty and staff to identify students of concern, speak with returning students, and familiarize with available resources.
  • There were 3 sessions held on August 7, August 12, and August 20.

Student Union Student Employee Training

OEM, in coordination with Student Union Staff, developed a safety and security training curriculum that was provided to 100 student employees of the Student Union on August 15.

  • The training covered topics such as NinerAlerts, action directives, and included scenario-based activities.

Large Venue/Event Security Enhancements (Commencement, football, etc.)

Safety and Security, Athletics, Venue Management, among others have developed a number of enhancements related to security for large venues and events. Enhancements include:

  • Development of a risk assessment tool to identify the security necessary for different venues and events.
  • Addition and implementation of metal detectors, no large bags or umbrella enforcement, wanding, and increased law enforcement presence to all major events.
  • Wider development of Event Action Plans (EAP) for certain venues and events.
  • Increased adoption and advertisement of gameday opt-in texting via Rave Mobile Safety for event-specific safety messages as well as NinerAlerts.

NinerAlerts Text Opt-in

OEM has developed the capability for nontraditional students, faculty, and staff to opt-in to NinerAlerts text messaging.

  • Text unccharlottealerts to 67283 to opt in.
  • Since implementation shortly after 4/30, 1422 people (as of November 2019) have opted in.

Situational Awareness/Incident Management Software Implementation

OEM has purchased and implemented a situational awareness/incident management software tool (Veoci) for use by the Incident Management Team (IMT) and Policy Group during emergency events/incidents. The software helps to maintain situational awareness, resource requests, and other important information during an emergency.

Classroom Lockdown Kits

These kits will be placed in classrooms by the end of the calendar year.

Safety videos

To ensure safety training is accessible to all members of our community, The University has developed instructional videos for each of the three primary NinerAlert directives: lockdown, seek shelter, and evacuation. Visit the Emergency Management website to view the videos.

Classroom posters

Safety posters have been installed in all classrooms on campus and are being added to all laboratory spaces. The laboratory installations should be complete by the end of the fall semester. Each poster lists the room number for the space, emergency contact information, and how to execute the three primary action directives given in a NinerAlert: lockdown, seek shelter, and evacuation.

Assessing Feasibility/Suitability

Siren System Improvements

OEM has developed a scope and budget proposal for a complete overhaul of the campus siren system to include:

  • The addition of a new “pole” to cover the South Village area of campus.
  • Installation of new hardware to allow for audible voice messages as well as tornado warning tone.
  • Automated integration into the Rave emergency alert software (currently the siren system still requires a manual button push from PPS dispatch).
  • Alertus Upgrades and Wider Implementation - Safety and Security, in coordination with AISLE (formerly Classroom Support services), is working to develop better capabilities for direct podium connection to PPS Dispatch.
  • Two-way communications panic button for all classroom podiums, thus increasing situational awareness and communication to faculty during emergency events.
  • Upgrade would also include the ability to connect to facility PA systems to provide emergency messaging.
  • Recreation Services has expressed interest in implementing this service in the new UREC building.

Social Sentinel

Web-based social media monitoring tool to identify threats to the University.

Interior Door Locks/Deadbolts

Conducting cost analysis to install basic locking/lockdown device on all doors.

Emergency Bus Protocols 

Coordination with PaTS to develop emergency protocol for bus drivers in active assailant (among others) incidents.

Build out of EH&S safety and fire drill monitor program 

Build out of current EH&S safety and fire drill monitor program to include information/training on lockdown, seek shelter.