Editorial

Widespread technology can add extra safety

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It’s sad, but it’s a fact that it often takes a tragedy for things to get done.

It is good, however, when we can learn from the misfortune of others in time to do something about it.

Such is the case at the University of Nebraska, which is putting to work the power of the electronic communications revolution to keep faculty, students and staff safe.

UNL announced today that it is implementing a new system that alerts participants via computers, landline telephones and cell phones with text and voice when there is an imminent threat to life and safety.

Officials are hoping for 100 percent participation by faculty, staff and students.

E-mails and Web postings have been used to distribute campuswide emergency alerts, but the effort intensified following the Virginia Tech shooting rampage in April.

In that instance, campus officials were criticized for not taking the initial incidents seriously enough, allowing students and faculty to go to class where some of them came under fire.

The new UNL system will add cellular phones, land-line phones, text messaging, pagers, personal digital assistants and two-way radios.

University officials are wise to use all the methods available to ensure campus safety. Most of today’s students are wired to the world anyway via instant messaging and cell phone texting, let alone e-mail and Internet. It’s foolish not to use such readily available technology to help keep them safe as well.

But why couldn’t a similar system be implemented on a community wide basis? Those of us who don’t spend all day at our computers at least carry a cellular phone, or work near someone who does.

Radio and TV stations do a good job of warning the public of weather dangers or other emergencies, but those same emergencies can knock them off the air, and not everyone always has a set switched on.

Emergency officials will tell you that a tornado siren is an outdoor warning device, and aren’t intended to reach into our homes.

It shouldn’t be that difficult, or expensive, to use existing wireless or Web-based technology to alert residents in communities like ours of danger or emergencies.

Yes, the Internet can go down, and cellular towers are subject to the weather like any other electronic structure. But adding new technologies to our emergency warning system can provide just the extra level of safety that could make a difference when it is really needed.

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