Valero said that students who are registered in the Reverse 911 program will receive a notification via phone call, email and/or text message in the event of an emergency.
She said students should have received a sign-up form when they registered their vehicles with UPD in order to receive a parking permit.
Students who did not register a vehicle with the university, or missed the chance to register for Reverse 911, can print the form from the A&M-San Antonio website at http://www.tamusa.tamus.edu/upd/docs/Reverse911.pdf.
Completed Reverse 911 forms should be submitted to the UPD office in Room 120 of Main Campus building or Room 156 of Brooks City-Base Campus.
Reverse 911 does not mean to dial 119 in the case of an emergency.
“‘Reverse’ is the key word,” Valero said about the program, “We call you.”
The consent form clarifies questions students may have about the service: “Individuals, who do not register with Reverse 911, will not be notified if an emergency occurs.”
“You will only be notified if there is a serious threat or if the campus has to shut down,” UPD Sgt. Robert Lopez said.
Lopez explained that danger must be imminent to constitute an emergency evacuation or lock-down. Extreme weather, fire and terrorism are examples of campus emergencies.
Other methods of notification used — audible sirens and visual lights — will be employed, depending on the nature of the emergency.
The Reverse 911 system has yet to be tested since the move to the new A&M-San Antonio campuses.
“City fire code says we must have at least one evacuation drill per year,” said Damon Shodrock, director of safety, risk and emergency management.
Shodrock has appointed 25 safety captains for A&M-San Antonio. Seventeen captains are designated for Main-Campus and eight captains for Brooks-Campus.
According to the A&M-San Antonio Emergency Operations Procedures, the safety captains
responsibilities are to:
- Develop evacuation plans for his/her area
- Assign personnel to perform various evacuation functions
- Maintain a written copy of the building evacuation plan
- Conduct periodic evacuation drills
- Revise the evacuation plan as necessary
During an emergency, captains can be identified by their bright orange hats.
The appointees will undergo safety training on Oct. 28 and an evacuation drill will be scheduled to run before the end of the fall semester.
“This is exciting. Our new system; our new technology,” Shodrock said about the new Reverse 911 emergency notification system.
