UNM is launching its inaugural Campus Safety Week this week, with various events and initiative meant to help prepare students for a variety of potential scenarios.
Emergency Manager Byron Piatt said he hopes the week of training and awareness becomes a biannual event.
Campus Safety Week begins on Tuesday not quite with a literal bang, although pretty close. On Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. the campus will hold a brief shelter-in-place drill, partnered with the LoboAlerts Campus Warning Siren System.
During the drill, all will be asked to remain inside and away from glass windows or doors until the “All Clear” alert is sounded.
A LoboAlert via email, text message and other means will notify users of the drill 15 minutes before the sirens sound, as with previous tests. Piatt said the drill occurs once every semester to ensure the UNM community is properly enrolled in and understands what to do in the event that a real emergency prompts a LoboAlert.
All faculty, staff, students, affiliates of UNM and UNM Hospital employees are automatically signed up for LoboAlerts, which provides emergency messages concerning safety and weather. Users are encouraged to update their contact information when necessary.
Piatt said the LoboAlert system was used 82 times during the 2015-16 school year, but mostly for training purposes.
“The Albuquerque campus was notified 24 times for 14 unique situations including five cases of battery including fondling, four robberies, four police activities and one closure due to infrastructure failure,” he said.
Although Piatt and Clery Coordinator Rob Burford are pleased with the current system, Piatt said he hopes to add visual alert systems in classrooms, an additional warning siren for the north campus and a lightning prediction system.
Burford and Piatt, along with others, will be coordinating Campus Safety Week for its duration.
The week will progress with an active shooter training session by Piatt, the annual campus safety walk, violence prevention forums, information booths, fire drills at UNM residence halls and fraternity and sorority houses, safety seminars geared towards staff and more.
Piatt hopes this week provides the UNM community with more knowledge on University preparedness efforts, campus resources and tactics individuals can use during an emergency.
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“It is important to discuss this, because people respond to situations as they have been prepared. By bringing attention to emergency preparedness, individuals will respond more efficiently and effectively,” he said. “By becoming more aware, we can help lessen the impact of any situation we might face. These are skills that can be used every day, and not just for one week each September.”
Burford recommends UNM students and staff prepare themselves for an emergency by attending this week’s events, asking questions during the Coffee with a Cop event and recalling what they have learned during both New Student Orientation and Campus Safety Week.
Burford said he also hopes to see more students utilize the UNM Police Department escort service.
Piatt said he would like to see more students and staff take courses like Emergency Management and Preparedness, and consider becoming part of the Campus Community Emergency Response Team.
He would also like to remind students and staff of useful smartphone apps like LoboGuardian and LoboMobile.
LoboGuardian acts as one of the many BlueLight poles around campus, allowing users to contact UNM Police for tips and during emergencies. With the app’s GPS features, a friend can also track the user’s movements during errands and be alerted if the user is out later than expected during the evening hours.
LoboMobile, on the other hand, is an informational app that includes campus news, activities, resources and an Emergency Information page.
If faced with an emergency situation, Piatt said, students and staff should make themselves safe, warn others who are nearby and proceed to dial 911 or campus police at 505-277-2241, use a BlueLight phone or press the panic button on the LoboGuardian app.
For more information on general safety or Campus Safety Week, visit: campussafety.unm.edu.
