Campus-wide drill tests residence hall security
April 29, 2008
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The Department of Residential Life put its emergency plans to the test Saturday in a campus-wide residence hall securing drill.
The drill expanded on a pilot program tested in Mark Twain residence hall April 5.
“It was a drill to see how long it takes, where we can see areas of improvement, much like we do with severe weather drills, fire drills,” Residential Life spokeswoman Brandi Herrman-Rose said. “It’s just another type of drill that we’re using.”
The drill started with a phone call placed at 2:39 p.m. The 20 residence halls were all secured by 3:02 p.m..
The drills will become part of the department’s regular emergency preparations, she said.
The department would run a securing drill once every semester.
“We have to allow people to be trained,” she said. “We don’t want to do it all the time certainly, but we do want to provide enough opportunities so that people know the drill, so that if something does happen and we need to say, ‘OK, this is a red securing,’ that people know what that means.”
The drill Saturday also tested some high-tech security measures at the department’s disposal.
All of the doors were locked by a professional staff member remotely from their home, and both professional and student staff members from the hall were notified of the drill through MU’s emergency alert system.
The system contacts groups of MU staff and students by phone call, text message or e-mail in case of an emergency. In this case, students weren’t notified of the drill through the alert system, although they were alerted through e-mails and flyers of the drill in advance.
The department practiced its red level securing, which would be used in the event of an immediate danger on campus.
In it, all residence hall entrances are locked, and staff members post signs near entrances to alert students of the danger.
Inside, students are asked to lock their doors, block their windows and stay silent in their rooms until Residential Life staff or MU police unlock the door.
Residential Life has two other securing levels, yellow and orange.
During a yellow level securing, which indicates a potential danger threat to the hall, the external doors would be locked to anyone without an authorized access card.
During an orange securing, which indicates danger in a particular area of a hall, staff would post signs indicating the area is off limits.
Herrman-Rose said the department might test the other levels in future semesters.
“We really wanted to work on this red securing drill because it was the most intense commitment from the students,” she said.
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