POL 04.25.10 - Emergency Notifications Policy

About this Policy

Authority:
Chancellor
Responsible Office:
Chief of Police
Date Established:
03-20-2014
Last Revised:
03-04-2025

1. PURPOSE

1.1 The Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (the Clery Act) is a federal law that requires institutions of higher education to establish policies related to crime and notifications related to emergency situations to the campus community.
1.2 UNC Pembroke has an Emergency Notification System (ENS) with multi-channel communication capabilities which can rapidly disseminate emergency information on an incident and provide instructions to the UNC Pembroke campus community.

1.3 This policy addresses the criteria for sending an emergency notification to the campus community.

2. SCOPE

2.1 This policy applies to all students, staff and faculty of UNC Pembroke.

3. DEFINITIONS

Clery Compliance Officer: responsible for ensuring the university complies with the federal Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act

3.1 Clery Crimes: Specific criminal offenses, incidents, and violations required to be reported under the Clery Act.

3.2 Clery Geography: UNC Pembroke must disclose statistics for reported Clery crimes that occur: (1) on-campus, (2) on-campus residence halls, (3) on public property within or immediately adjacent to the campus, and (4) in or on non-campus buildings or property that the institution owns or controls. For a detailed explanation of each geographic category visit What is Clery Geography?

3.3 Emergency Notification: A notification to inform the campus community of a dangerous situation occurring on campus involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of the campus community.

3.4 Responsible University Authority (RUA): An individual authorized to activate an emergency notification based on their professional role and knowledge or University affiliation.

4. EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS

4.1. Authorizing and Issuing

4.1.1 The process of sending an emergency notification has two components: “authorizing” and “issuing.” “Authorizing” a notification refers to providing approval for the issuance of the notification, while “issuing” a notification refers to the technical activity of broadcasting the notification. Note that in the interest of timely notification, this policy does not contain a separate “approval” procedure for the language of a notification; use of the pre-approved templates (with relevant blank fields completed) addresses this issue.

4.2 Responsible University Authorities (RUA). The following university officials, in rank order, have been designated to authorize the issuance of emergency notifications:

4.2.1. Chancellor;

4.2.2. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs;

4.2.3. Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration;

4.2.4. Chief of Staff;

4.2.5. Executive Director of University Communications and Marketing;

4.2.6. Director of Police and Public Safety;

4.2.7. Senior Police and Public Safety Officer on Duty;

4.2.8. Environmental Health and Safety Officer.

4.2.9. These positions will be collectively referred to as “Responsible University Authorities” (RUA) for the purposes of these protocols. At all times in these protocols, reference to any position at the university shall be understood, in the absence of the referenced individual, to include designees.

4.3. Confirming the Existence of a Significant Emergency or Dangerous Situation

4.3.1. RUAs should attempt to confirm the nature and existence of suspected emergency situations before authorizing an emergency notification.

4.3.2. However, in certain exceptional cases, the time spent confirming the existence of the potential emergency situation may expose more community members to the danger. In these cases, the notification may be sent without unequivocal confirmation. The receipt of multiple reports of gunshots on campus, for example, is sufficient to authorize the issuance of an emergency notification, even if police have not personally seen an assailant. Another example is the issuance of a tornado warning by the National Weather Service for areas near Pembroke, NC.

4.4 Authorizing Emergency Notifications

4.4.1 Upon learning of a possible emergency situation, if time allows, the RUA most familiar with the situation should attempt to contact the chancellor or other cabinet level RUA to get authorization. If time does not allow or contact cannot be made, the RUA may authorize the emergency notification on their own judgement.

4.4.2 In most cases, Campus Police will be the first to learn of a potential emergency situation, so the senior police officer on duty at the time will be the RUA. The decisions to 1. consult or authorize without consultant; and 2. confirm unequivocally or not will be theirs.

4.4.3. RUAs must also keep in mind that in rare instances, an emergency notification will create a more serious emergency and/or compromise the university's efforts to contain the emergency. Consultation with chancellor or other senior leader is crucial in such instances.

4.5. The RUA may change as the incident develops. The initial RUA may be the senior police officer on duty. As the situation matures, the RUA responsibility may shift, for example, to the Chief of Police, as incident commander; or to the Executive Director of University Coummincations and Marketing; or even the Chancellor. Subsequent Updates and the All Clear (see section 6.0) may be authorized by an RUA different from the initial RUA. As more senior RUAs become available and as time allows, more senior RUAs must inform lower level RUAs that they are taking over the authority to issue notifications.

5. Issuing Emergency Notifications

5.1 The initial emergency notification for an incident will always be sent by telecommunicators in Campus Police.

5.2 Campus Police Telecommunicators will continue to issue all subsequent updates until the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has been established and staff from University Communications and Marketing (UCM) arrive in the EOC. At this point, if the situation allows, the issuance of further emergency notifications or subsequent messaging will be handled by UCM. Through the EOC Director, UCM staff must coordinate hand-off of messaging with Campus Police representative in the EOC.

5.3 The authorizing RUA will call the Police Department and authorize the on duty telecommunicator to issue the emergency notification.

5.4 The authorizing RUA must ensure the Telecommunicator understands the nature of the emergency and basic facts (who, what, when, where) so the proper emergency notification template can be filled out by the telecommunicator. For example, in the event of a fire, the RUA and telecommunicator must understand the situation (fire) and its location (campus building[s]) to send proper emergency notification.

5.5 Telecommunicators will use the Emergency Notification System (see Policy 04.25.12) to disseminate emergency notifications.

6. TYPES OF EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS

6.1 There are three types of emergency notifications: “initial,” “status update,” and “all clear.”

6.2 Initial

6.2.1 An initial emergency notification is made when an RUA has confirmed that an emergency situation poses an immediate threat to the safety or security of the campus population. This is the first official communication to the campus in an emergency situation.

6.3 Status Update

6.3.1.1 A status update is made when there is new information or instructions for the campus population. It may provide an update on the situation or change in protective actions or even changes to the university's operational posture for future time periods based on emergency situation.

6.3.2 However, even if no new information or instructions are available, status updates must be issued at least every 20 minutes indicating the situation is still being investigated/managed.

6.4 All Clear

6.4.1. An “All Clear” notification indicates that the emergency has been contained. Status update and all clear notifications should be timed such that SMS messages do not overlap.

7. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

7.1. The Chief of Police is designated as the campus emergency alert authority.

7.1.1. The campus emergency alert authority has principal responsibility for the ENS including design, training, maintenance and testing.

7.1.2. The campus emergency alert authority, in consultation with the Clery Compliance Officer, has principal responsibility for establishing standardized emergency message templates.

7.2 Telecommunicators

7.2.1 All telecommunicators in the UNC Pembroke Department of Police and Public Safety shall have the ability to “issue” emergency notifications through the ENS.

7.3 University Communications and Marketing

7.3.1 The Executive Director of University Communications and Marketing and two designees within the Division of University Communications and Marketing shall have the ability to “issue” emergency notifications through the ENS.

8. TRAINING

8.1.3 All newly hired RUAs (4.2) shall receive training on the emergency notification decision flow chart within ten days of their start date to guide their decision to “authorize” an emergency notification. Such training must be documented.

8.1.4 All RUAs (4.2) shall receive training annually on the emergency notification decision flow chart to guide their decision to “authorize” an emergency notification. Such training must be documented.

8.1.5 Training documentation shall be maintained by the campus emergency alert authority.

9. LEGAL NOTICE

9.1. The information contained in this policy has been prepared for use by UNC Pembroke. The information is guidance for issuance of an emergency notification, recognizing that individual circumstance or events not anticipated by this policy may occur. The experience and judgment of those utilizing the policy is an important consideration in how and when the policy is utilized and when a notification is issued. The content represents the best opinions on the subject. No warranty, guarantee, or representation is made by the university as to the sufficiency of the information contained herein and the university assumes no responsibility in connection therewith. This policy is intended to provide guidelines for safe practices; therefore, it cannot be assumed that all plausible and non-plausible scenarios are contained in this document, or that other or additional information or measures may not be required.

Additional References: