Haverford College has significantly enhanced
its capacity to keep students safe on campus. The tragedy at Virginia
Tech this past spring underscored the importance of investing in campus
safety and confirmed the value of the investments we've already made.
A cornerstone of our effort is educating
our campus about the importance of what we call 'shelter in place':
stay inside, lock your door, stay away from windows, don't come out
until told it is safe. We've also taken several additional steps to
complement that most basic of responses in the event of an emergency:
Emergency Notification Systems –
We have installed an audible alert system which is essentially a very
loud siren. This system will only be used in life threatening emergencies
and will be audible all across campus. Upon hearing the siren, students
and the college community are asked to lock doors and windows and to
shelter in place until they hear an all-clear signal. Verbal instructions
will be announced over a public address system, which will be heard
on all parts of the campus. The siren system will be tested at regular
intervals.
In addition, we are in the process of installing an electronic
notification network which will include E-mail, text messages, and voice
messaging.
Table Top Emergency Exercise - We conducted
a hostile intruder tabletop exercise with key campus administrators
last fall. In addition, we have worked closely with the Special Response
Teams of the Haverford and Lower Merion Police Departments to develop
protocols for responding to a hostile intruder scenario.
The Haverford Police SRT and the Township Emergency Management
Coordinator were on campus touring our campus buildings last winter,
and they are planning a tabletop exercise here on campus in the near
future. They have blueprints of all of our buildings, and most importantly,
they each have one another's radio frequencies programmed into our radios,
thereby ensuring that the response to an incident would be timely and
well coordinated.
Card Access – All of the
perimeter doors to dorms and many academic and recreation spaces have
card access.
Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV)
and Emergency Phones – CCTV cameras were installed in
the rear of the Haverford College Apartments in 2004. There are a total
of 45 ‘Blue Light’ emergency phones on campus, with similar
phones located outside of every dorm entrance. In the event of an emergency,
students can activate the phones which automatically contact Safety
and Security.
For more information go to www.haverford.edu/security
