Safety-Related Communication to the Community
Wittenberg Police communicates with campus community members in three ways. Two of those methods, Emergency Notifications and Timely Warnings, are federally mandated while the third, Community Notifications, is not. The University uses these three methods for different purposes, but all are meant to provide information community members can use.
Emergency Notification
The federal government requires institutions of higher education to send an emergency notification when a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurs on campus that poses an immediate or impending threat to health or safety. The Police Division issues these notifications immediately upon confirmation of the existence of such danger or emergency.
Emergency notifications are sent via the mass notification system, Rave, in conjunction with Tiger Safe, which can deliver both text and email messages to University-owned and personal devices. These messages will provide pertinent information including instructions on what to do in this emergency situation. Depending upon how long the situation lasts, you may receive updates to provide further instructions. Once the situation concludes, you will receive an "all clear."
Timely Warnings
The federal government requires institutions of higher education to send Timely Warning Notifications, to alert the campus community to certain crimes in a timely manner to aid in the prevention of similar crimes. The department assesses reports of Clery-reportable crimes occurring on Clery geography to determine when the criteria for this notification are met.
Timely Warnings are sent via Rave, in conjunction with Tiger Safe, email using distribution lists that contain all faculty, staff and student email addresses.
Community Notifications
Community Notifications is our way to share information with the community when a situation that could impact health or safety does not meet the criteria of an Emergency Notification or Timely Warning. These messages could be sent for non-emergency situations that occur on or near campus that could affect the campus community.
Community Notification messages are sent via email using the University's distribution lists that contain all faculty, staff and student email addresses.
The chart located at this link can be helpful in comparing and contrasting the types of messaging described.