WARNING!

DANGER!!

DANGER!! NOT – Legal Advice NOT – Exhaustive NOT – To replace your campuses due diligence NOT – A one size fits all solution

GOALS Overview – Best “Recommended” Practices Review the “Standard of Care” Pendulum Taste of the varied solutions and approaches

Credits  See Links in Blog  Paper Clip Communications “Heeding Virginia Tech’s Lessons”  “Campus Technology” – August 2007  “Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel” – August 2007

Duty to Warn The Blog of Tim Keefe

Duty to Warn Do we really have a duty? What is a “duty”?

Duty to Warn A duty to warn is a concept that arises in the law of torts in a number of circumstances, indicating that a party will be held liable for injuries caused to another, where the party had the opportunity to warn the other of a hazard and failed to do so.lawtorts party

Tarasoff vs. Regents of the University of California (1974)

Tarasoff Established the duty to warn the potential victim

Duty vs. Responsibility vs. ethical obligation….. Vs. Expectation Of students, parents, staff, community and the media

Duty vs. Responsibility vs. ethical obligation….. Proposed Legislation If we don’t, who will??

Higher Education Act Reauthorization Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require each institution of higher education (IHE) participating in any program under title IV (Student Assistance) to include information concerning its law enforcement emergency response program and the occurrence of campus law enforcement emergencies in the annual campus security report.

Higher Ed. Act Reauthor. Requires such an IHE to: (1) test annually its law enforcement emergency response program; and (2) inform those on campus of any school law enforcement emergency within 30 minutes of discovering it.

Clery, “CLEARLY”, NOW!!!!

Departure from Timely Reporting – For Clery we usually wait for reasonable number of facts before posting

For Clery, “….. should be issued as soon as pertinent information is available”

For Clery "in a manner that is timely and will aid in the prevention of similar crimes."

For Clery New Definition? “What you know, When you know it”

The Requirement post VT?: "in a manner that is immediate and will aid in the prevention of further injury/damage” (TCK)

Virginia Tech 18,266 who signed up for VT Alerts (60%) 18,266 who signed up for VT Alerts (60%) 87 percent are students 87 percent are students 8 percent are faculty and 11 percent are staff 8 percent are faculty and 11 percent are staff Approximately 43 percent opted to receive messages using one method Approximately 43 percent opted to receive messages using one method 30 percent selected two methods 30 percent selected two methods and 26 percent signed up for the maximum of three delivery methods and 26 percent signed up for the maximum of three delivery methods

Virginia Tech text message - most widely selection option of delivery; selected by 77 percent text message - most widely selection option of delivery; selected by 77 percent voice message to a mobile telephone is next at 34 percent, voice message to a mobile telephone is next at 34 percent, instant message (31 percent), instant message (31 percent), non Virginia Tech (15 percent), non Virginia Tech (15 percent), voice mail to a home phone (10 percent), voice mail to a home phone (10 percent), voice mail to an “other” phone (7 percent), voice mail to an “other” phone (7 percent), voice mail to an office phone (6 percent). voice mail to an office phone (6 percent).

Virginia Tech Other communications tools: Other communications tools: University homepage University homepage Virginia Tech News homepage Virginia Tech News homepage Broadcast alerts Broadcast alerts Broadcast voic messages Broadcast voic messages Recorded hotline ( ) Recorded hotline ( ) University switchboard University switchboard Public media outlets, used to convey urgent messages. Public media outlets, used to convey urgent messages.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Virginia Tech Reports 13% of Campus Confirms Receiving Emergency Alert After 2 Hours, 13% percent of Recipients Confirm Receipt of Test BLACKSBURG, Va., --[EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS]-- October 11, Shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday, Virginia Tech initiated its first system- wide test of VT Alerts, an emergency notification system that can send text messages to cell phones, voice messages to non university telephones and cell phones, instant messages on the AOL, MSN, and Yahoo networks, and messages to non-Virginia Tech accounts. EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION NEWS

According to analysis provided by, 3n, the first attempt to deliver the test message to all subscribers was sent in 18 minutes.3n Second and third attempts to deliver the message (to those who requested multiple deliveries) were completed in 31 minutes. After the two-hour test concluded, approximately 13 percent of the recipients confirmed receipt of the message. Community members were asked to complete a survey : As of 4 p.m. Oct. 12, 711 people reported through the survey that they did not receive the test message.

What’s in your “Toolbox”? Experts recommend a “layered” approach using varied strategies

Layers A – Initial Mode – “Push” - Deal with immediate needs/action, “what you know” – Update later. B – As necessary, PUSH more immediate details on emergency, or the resolution C - Follow up with more detail, “pull” community to more robust information sources

Layers As time moves forward from the initial incident, strategies will change as will modes of communication. , web posting, blogs, videoconferencing, newspapers, etc. follow

What’s in your “Toolbox”? Options Text Messaging system – 3 rd party or institution owned alert system Sirens – with/without voice capabilities Loudspeakers Tried and true or…….

What’s in your “Toolbox”? Options “The Old Fashioned Way” When all else fails…., you still need to train in a low/no tech solution (Watch Training Video)

Seriously, folks Low Tech: When Safe! -Word of Mouth -Phone Chains -Door to Door -Bullhorn

Caution: Define Emergency “The Sky is Falling” Some people will want to know everything all the time, desensitizing users in the event of a real emergency. Ex: Use of

Caution: Define Emergency “ System will only be used when the safety of the entire campus, or a large portion of it are threatened.” “Not for isolated incidents impacting a small area of campus which poses no threat to safety”

Pros and Cons Land Line Phone – PSU experience  Estimate less than 80% “plug in”  95% never check voic  Expanded “free minutes” with cell plans – no need

Pros and Cons Cell phones – Direct calls -Cell Service can go down -“Stacking” of calls – can take hours (DAYs!) -Overwhelm system unless multiples carriers and services used -Great for secondary – phone a friend

Pros and Cons  Text Messaging system – 3rd party or institution owned alert system  Check out vendors on Blog  We went with E2 Campus- recent test highly successful  Cons – People without text service  Not everyone has cell – Katrina – Cellphones did not function

Pros and Cons Text Messaging system – 3rd party or institution owned alert system  Uses SMS (Short Message Service) Function on signal carrier – requires very low signal strength  Hard to get students to opt in and give up their cell phone #s

Pros and Cons Sirens – with/without voice capabilities -With a UPS, functions in all conditions -Like fire alarms, some will hear, others will not -Difficult to “train” all populations and visitors as to meaning -More effective for single use – “take cover” applications.

Pros and Cons Loudspeakers -Similar concerns to sirens – varied ease of hearing -Can be mobile – bullhorns, car mounted. Allows for targeting -Good fall back

Pros and Cons s - – Can take hours depending on population and system status: - Not all on the system – time of day - Some Employees and student do not have immediate access -Potential power issues - More robust information distribution

New Strategies New policies on cell phones in class Look into radios/pagers for key staff and first responders Check out fire alarm systems – modern have voice

New Strategies Be sure you include your town/host community. We are already perceived as elitist by some. Open alert system to community if possible - $$$$

New Strategies Consider some satellite phones – not subject to power outages - $$$$

Thanks For Coming!!! Duty to Warn The Blog of Tim Keefe