Related Policies and Guidelines

NeSCC Policy 04:66:00 Timely Warnings

Purpose 

To establish procedures to insure the Northeast State campus community is notified of an immediate threat to the campus community.           

Policy

If a serious crime, a natural disaster or a manmade emergency occurs that poses an immediate threat to the Northeast State campus community or a segment of the Northeast State campus community, Northeast State Community College will immediately notify the campus community or the appropriate segments of the community that may be affected by the situation. The types of incidents that may cause an immediate threat to the Northeast State campus community could include but are not limited to emergencies such as: outbreak of meningitis, norovirus or other serious illness, approaching tornado, hurricane or other extreme weather conditions, earthquake, gas leak, terrorist incident, armed intruder, bomb threat, civil unrest or rioting, explosion, and nearby chemical or hazardous waste spill.  

Procedure

The Northeast State Police Department has a responsibility to respond to such incidents to determine if the situation does in fact, pose an immediate threat to the community. 

The senior officer on duty is responsible for immediately notifying the chief of Police of any situation that poses an immediate threat to the community.  The  chief of Police is responsible for immediately notifying the President and the Vice President of Finance and Administration or their designee who develops the content of the message to the community and sending the message using some or all of the below listed methods.  If the Vice President of Finance and Administration or their designee cannot be contacted this responsibility rests with the Northeast State Police Department.  The Northeast State Police Department will also notify the office of Community Relations.     

The chief of Police, in coordination with the Vice President of Finance and Administration, will determine the content of the message and use some or all of the systems described below to communicate the threat to the Northeast State campus community or to the appropriate segment of the community, if the threat is limited to a particular building or segment of the population. 

The chief of Police and the Vice President of Finance and Administration will, without delay and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system, unless issuing a notification will, in the judgment of the first responders (including, but not limited to: Northeast State Police Department and outside Fire and Emergency Medical Services), compromise the efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency. 

The various systems the institution has in place for communicating information quickly to  include but are not limited to the following: 

1. NeSCC Emergency Alert System
2. Building Coordinators/Assistant Building Coordinators
3. Campus e-mail system
4. Social media sites

The Vice President of Finance and Administration will post updates during a critical incident on the Northeast State web page at www.northeaststate.edu. 

In addition, some Northeast State campus police vehicles are equipped with Public Address Systems and these vehicles can be strategically placed throughout the campus to facilitate communication through the PA system. 

Some or all of these methods of communication may be activated in the event of an immediate threat to the Northeast State campus community.

Should an immediate threat occur on any of Northeast State Community College’s campuses that would require disseminating emergency information to individuals and organizations outside the campus community we may, depending upon the nature of the threat, utilize one or all of the following.  First, use the NeSCC Emergency Alert System, Campus e-mail, and Northeast State social media sites.  Second, notify local law enforcement agencies that have procedures in place to keep the public informed primarily through media outlets.  Third, the office of Community Relations would prepare and disseminate press releases.

In addition to the procedures described above, the Northeast State Police Department will notify all members of the Northeast State campus community annually of their responsibility to contact the Northeast State Police Department of any situation that would require an emergency notification.  The Northeast State Police Department has a responsibility to respond to such incidents to determine if the situation does in fact, pose an immediate threat to the community.  

There is a separate procedure governing timely warning notices (04:66:00 Timely Warning) that are sent to the Northeast State campus community to notify members of the community about serious crimes against people that occur on campus, when it is determined by the Northeast State Police Department, that the incident may pose an ongoing threat to members of the Northeast State campus community.