At this juncture, the best that Catholic universities can do is to have an emergency response application. Religion often prevents realistically effective programs, such as the Women’s Self Defense Gracie jujitsu program from being something offered as a preventative measure and as such, institutions are left with the need to notify the masses during an emergency. Currently the problem is that this campus lacks a way of accounting for people who may or may not be in a particular location. It is necessary that should an event of sexual assault take place, the individual who is assaulted should be able to report immediately and to get the assistance they need. Additionally, if there is someone who has committed such an act, it is important that the university be able to locate that individual so as to press the necessary charges and prevent any further harm from coming to any other students. It is important during such times to avoid panic and to ensure that students are all notified of what has happened. That being said, one of the most important factors in an emergency situation is to verify the location of all personnel to ensure that no one has been hurt or that no one else has been hurt. Without having an application that does this the process can be arduous at best and it can take days to comprehensively account for all members of the given community. In order to rectify this problem and application should be developed which allows people to receive notifications through an application of where the evacuation taking place so that they can move to safety and the catching of the offender can be expedited. If all members on campus are alerted to the high security risk they should be able to gain immediate information, if there is any, for the perpetrator’s looks so that they can report in if they see them. There should be a notifications system that also allows each member on campus to find safety and shelter and to receive updates as to what the situation is so that they know when they are able to return to daily activities. Such a system can be used in tandem with an emergency response application that would help law enforcement officials to ensure all campus members are safe and to apprehend the criminal.
Emergency response app establishes a procedure and organizational structure for response to emergencies which would otherwise cause a significant disruption to all or portions of the college campus. The basic emergency procedures are established in order to protect the lives in the property of the college and community. As emergencies typically take place in a setting fashion and without warning, having an app is a flexible way to be responsive and any type of situation to the fullest and most far-reaching capacity. This app would obviously work in cooperation with federal, state, and local emergency agencies in management agencies as well as any other responders in the emergency itself.
Types of Emergencies
There are three types of emergencies. The first is a minor incident. In minor incident is something which takes place as a local event, something with limited impact on the overall functionality of the college. This could be something that takes place in a single, limited local level such as a laboratory or a single classroom (Perry, & Lindell, 2003, p. 340). The second type of emergency is an actual emergency, one defined as a serious event like sexual assault which disrupts significantly one or more operations on the campus. In such an event the emergency response app activated to the fullest extent required and all of the resources would be involved. The third level is a disaster, something which seriously impairs the operations of the college and in such a situation emergency response that would be fully activated. The emergency app is a type of emergency support function something which can be employed in all phases of the emergency and used to in stabilization and recovery efforts. It would also function as a response protocol something that identifies all personnel and alerts them in a timely fashion so as to mitigate these specific threats (Xue, & Zhong, 2005).
Communication is profoundly effective at a level two or three incident. But communication involves notification of emergency response personnel, medication between different emergency you team members, and communication with the campus community. Right now there is no system for communication with the campus during an emergency and only something meant for after an emergency (Lorincz, et. al., 2004, p. 17). Today one of the fastest ways to communicate with students on campus is not just through the use of email but through the use of time sensitive apps which can be integrated through an internal school system as well as external Internet sources. This would take into account an emergency where Internet was shut down and also a situation where power is shut down. In such an event as power is shut down, battery support would be turned on not only for the main switchboard associated with the application but for many of the students in class or located across the college campuses. By offering a targeted response app, one which sends notifications to all mediums of communication, students would be able to receive notification instantaneously not just to one of their sources such as a laptop but also to additional sources such as a tablet device for cell phone, something which would ensure the whitest rate of communication and the highest probability of reaching all targets in the affected areas.
By using this form of communication up to date information can be maintained and shared appropriately to all members of the faculty and the student body. Immediate notification can be authorized by the on-campus security teams as well as emergency management teams or police chairman who are on site. Specific protocols and sample messages would need to be created so that in the event of an emergency immediate information can be sent out to all students under the auspices that students understand what the messages have to say (Waeckerly, 1991, p. 818).
The primary responsibility for this type of application would be to notify individuals of an emergency. Emergency communications from public and official sources can be received at all times through the local police department and be on campus security staff. Showed a category two or three incident a place this application would help to notify local authorities and emergency response teams while simultaneously notifying all members on campus.
I have recommended an emergency response application for use at work when one or more of the multiple buildings on campus are evacuated. This could be applied to our current college campus and if successful could prove to be the prototype for additional business and academic facilities. I propose that when any building on campus is evacuated, all employee should be notified via an application which can reside on their smart phones, tablets, and laptops (Abbott, 2012, p. 33).
- Abbott, A. A. (2012). Emergency Response Plan. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 16(5), 33-36.
- Lorincz, K., Malan, D. J., Fulford-Jones, T. R., Nawoj, A., Clavel, A., Shnayder, V., … & Moulton, S. (2004). Sensor networks for emergency response: challenges and opportunities. Pervasive Computing, IEEE, 3(4), 16-23.
- Perry, R. W., & Lindell, M. K. (2003). Preparedness for emergency response: guidelines for the emergency planning process. Disasters, 27(4), 336-350.
- Waeckerle, J. F. (1991). Disaster planning and response. New England Journal of Medicine, 324(12), 815-821.
- Xue, L., & Zhong, K. B. (2005). Classification of types, levels and stages for emergencies: managerial foundation of government emergency response system [J]. Chinese Public Administration, 2, 032.
