Security conducts mock crisis response drill

Four Security staff members, director Jeff Rhoades and four Residence Life staff members participated in an exercise to test their response to a mock psychological crisis on campus Monday night.

Jeff organized the exercise that began with a tabletop run-through first on Sunday, centered around an “incident” in which a female residential student was threatening to harm herself and possibly was armed. The group conducted an actual drill inside France Hall.

Security staff members Tyler See, Evyn Stevens, Rob Lear and Mario Petit-Frere, along with RCs Jake Edington and Becky Neal and RAs Tonya Heilman and Christine Galloway participated in the drill.

Jeff explained that the Clery Act requires every Title IV institution to have and disclose emergency response and evacuation procedures that would be used in response to a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees occurring on campus. According to its website, the Clery Act requires all colleges and universities who receive federal funding to share information about crime on campus and their efforts to improve campus safety as well as inform the public of crime in or around campus.

“We are required to have an emergency plan, test it, evaluate it and publicize it,” Jeff explained, adding that at least one test a year is required.

For the actual drill, each participant was assigned a specific role. Following the exercise, the group discussed the outcome as part of the evaluation. Jeff will complete a final evaluation.

As part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness about emergency response and preparedness, Jeff wants to remind everyone that Heidelberg uses an emergency notification system called SendWordNow to notify the campus community in the case of emergency. SendWordNow delivers time-sensitive information to students, faculty and staff simultaneously via multiple paths including phone calls, SMS text messages and email when unforeseen events or emergencies arise. The institution without delay, and taking into account the safety of the community, determines the content of the notification and initiates the notification system, unless the notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise the efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.

You can read Heidelberg’s emergency procedures here.