The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Cory Reed Lt. Dave Henslee of the Corvallis Police Department addresses a crowd of students after the Oregon State Police SWAT team arrested Nathan M. Lenahan in the 300 block of N.W. 25th St. on Tuesday. Students gathered after the Emergency Alert System text and voice messages were sent out after 10 a.m. Tuesday.

OSU's Emergency Alert System was used for the first time on Tuesday morning since it was implemented last fall to inform nearly 30,000 students, faculty and staff, about a situation unfolding blocks from campus.

"Be advised there is a situation in the area of 25th and Harrison of Corvallis involving a barricaded subject. Corvallis Police, Oregon State Police, and the OSP Swat Team are at the scene," Jack Rodgers, OSU's director of public safety said in the message. "Corvallis Police, Oregon State Police and the OSP SWAT team are at the scene. The subject is contained inside his residence at this time. For your personal safety, please avoid this area until further notice."

Todd Simmons, the director of the department of news and communications said the university was in contact with police from the onset of the situation at around 7:30 a.m. Three hours later, the decision to use the emergency message system was made when it became clear that the subject was unlikely to come out on his own. The emergency message system was originally meant to be used only for campus emergencies, but the location of the incident was one of high traffic for university students, staff and faculty on their way to campus and could have posed a danger, Simmons said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we wanted to let everyone know that something was going on and to stay away," Simmons said.

The system showed a 95 percent success of getting the message delivered to the intended audience, according to Simmons. Members of the system primarily receive alerts through a default e-mail message, which goes out to all ONID e-mail addresses.

By accessing the system through its website, users can update their preferences and choose to receive the message through a phone call or a text message. Simmons encourages more people to go to the site and update their preferences, as a lot of people don't use their university e-mail accounts.

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