2008 Woodie Awards
Shootings spur DCCCD to make changes
Scott Figuerola
Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: News
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Robert Young, the district's legal counsel who headed a committee for crisis management, said this committee made recommendations to the chancellor's office regarding safety issues on DCCCD campuses.
The recommendations included three parts: communication, training, and evening and weekend issues.
Young said all the short-term goals were approved by the chancellor's office. Mid and long-term goals are still under consideration.
"The first recommendation under communications was to upgrade the entire current phone system to public address capabilities," he said.
Young said every office has a phone, but for a $300,000 licensing fee the phone can also be used as a public address system. If someone is using the phone at the time of an address, the system will automatically interrupt the conversation and broadcast the warning.
He said for an extra cost, boxes could be set up in high-traffic areas, such as the cafeteria or the Commons Courtyard, to broadcast the public address announcement.
Young said the process of changing the license for the phone systems is as simple as flipping a switch, so within a couple months to a year the new system should be up and running.
Another short-term goal the committee recommended was for the information technology department of DCCCD to research a way to send mass text messages to students and faculty in case of an emergency.
Young said the results of the research should be submitted sometime this December. He said he feels DCCCD will have to go outside the current technology installed and hire a third party to get the text messaging capabilities.
There would have to be a way to get all the current students' phone numbers and keep the list up-to-date for this to be effective. This process is included in information technology's research.
He said the bulk of the money, about $1.2 million, will be used to upgrade the central communications system for the campuses' police departments, which is housed at Brookhaven College.
"This office is small and handles all communication between all the campuses' police departments," Young said. "That needs to be completely upgraded to accommodate new equipment and additional personnel."
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