MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department (UWPD) launched a one-button alert system. The new tool aims to accelerate critical emergency notifications during a deadly, active threat.
Beginning in the fall, UWPD will have a physical panic button that would automatically trigger a WiscAlert emergency notification to all UW students and staff.
It is reserved for situations where there is an "active killer incident." UWPD began testing the one-button system internally in January.
On Wednesday, Marc Lovicott, director of communications for UWPD, tested the one button alert system for the first time.
“We hope to never use them, in fact my goal is to leave this department years from now and never have pressed that button, but we have that available to us when we have an active threat,” said Lovicott.
The alert system consists of four buttons; The Red button which sends an alert to the campus that there is an active attack, the yellow button which translates the alert into multiple different languages, the blue button which clears the alert and the green button which sends out a test alert.
“It is an effective tool for us to reach out to our community really really quickly when an emergency happens, we can get into the system, write a message and send that out and it can go out very quickly via text,” said Lovicott.
Jeff Kirchman, community officer for UWPD, said his main goal is campus safety and the WiscAlert system has been very helpful for him during his time working on campus.
“The alert us button is just one more aspect of that in being able to help keep people safe, should an event like this happen on our campus,” said Kirchman.
The WiscAlert System usually requires a manual approach but with the one-button alert, a generic pre-written message will be sent. Following the press of the button, UWPD staff will follow up and craft any additional messages with more details, such as location of the incident, suspect descriptions and specific instructions.
Kirchman often trains students and campus staff on how to respond to threats. He said one of the first things he teaches people is the WiscAlert system.
“I think it just provides us with one more means of communicating some really critical information when we need to get the word out to people,” said Kirchman.