University of Arkansas Tests Multiple Alert Warning System
Officials at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock say last week’s deployment of its new emergency alert system was effective – as long as students and staff received the messages.

In an article on the NWAnews.com website, Tara M. Manthey and Charlotte Tubbs say the school sent out thousands of emergency-alert phone calls and e-mail messages to students and staff after a shooting last week. The system’s first live test worked well, the authors say, although there were some glitches.

“UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson said that Wednesday’s first messages were sent within 14 minutes of a 911 call — a rapid response in his opinion,” Manthey and Tubbs say. “However, some complained this week that they didn’t get a message or that messages were late.”

“The anecdotal evidence from the standpoint of a lot of people, it worked well and quickly,” Anderson told the pair. “To others it did not. The systems were overloaded. One reason was because of the cell-phone calls that people began to make. Those are issues that we need to look at really carefully. We will look at the strengths and weaknesses and correct them.”

The university is also exploring adding a text-message alert system and an intercom system, but Associate Vice Chancellor Cindy Milazzo told Manthey and Tubbs that no single system will ever work perfectly and the best approach is a layered emergency alert system.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/national/218316/