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This spring, Tennessee Tech University will enroll all students in its emergency alert program, Tennessee Techalert. The primary reason for this transition is to keep safe the students and employees who are on or near campus as well as those on their way to or leaving campus. said university Title IX coordinator Marlene Hall. We want to push vital safety information to them as quickly as possible. The current alert system was set up in 2007, and operates on an opt-in basis. About 3,700 students have opted into the program. The upcoming change will register students using the cell phone number they provided during enrollment. More than 11,000 students will receive safety alerts. TTUalert notifies students, faculty and staff about campus emergencies. When conditions warrant, university police push alerts to these groups via text message and email. In severe cases, a banner will show up on all pages of the Tennessee Tech website. The change to the system will not affect faculty or staff. University police believe that the alert system is valuable to the protection of our community, said chief of police Tony Nelson. Several times after an alert has been sent, we have received tips about the incident, which have assisted in closing criminal cases and locating persons of interest. The program also posts alerts on Tennessee Tech's Twitter and Facebook pages, located at @tennesseetech and facebook.com/tennesseetech. Universities across the country are renewing efforts to inform their campus communities about crimes and emergencies. Such notifications are required by federal law under the Clery Act. Though the new Tennessee Techalert feature will ensure more information is available about campus emergencies, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation data show a drop in crime on campus in recent years. Between 2013 and 2014, recorded on-campus assaults fell from 32 to 26. Burglaries fell from 30 to 26 and reports of larceny or theft fell from 73 to 49. TTU also has 17 blue-light safety phones on campus. These devices are connected directly to University Police s 24-hour emergency number and can be used to call for an escort, report a suspicious person, or to report an emergency. Click here for a list of phone locations. The Tennessee Tech police department is in the Foundation Hall lobby, 242 E. 10th street. It is a fully certified police agency and can be reached at (931) 372-3234. |