As the fall semester begins, Brandeis will be met with an enhanced emergency response system, including armed campus police, sirens and various ways of contacting students in case of emergency.According to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan, "most of the [Public Safety] officers have gone through training" to carry firearms and five more officers have yet to undergo training. Callahan would not specify the exact number of officers who are armed.

A firearms advisory committee, composed of faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate representatives and chaired by Executive Vice President Peter French, developed a policy regarding firearms in a report last May.

Key parts of the report include the continuum of force, the first step of which is verbalization and the final step of which is deadly force, that officers must follow in dealing with situations that may require the use of firearms. The report also has an outline of the training officers must undergo before being armed, including sensitivity training developed by an outside consultant about students from various backgrounds as well as firearms training with the Waltham police.

According to Zack Herman '12, arming campus police is "not necessarily good or bad; it provides a more secure situation."

"I think that it gives [campus police officers] legitimacy," said Elise Diamond '09.

In addition, Public Safety officers will now be able to send out short messages to alert the campus in case of emergency, said Callahan. The public safety Web page on the Brandeis Web site says information during emergencies will be available through broadcast messages on office phones, plasma screens around campus and on the Brandeis University home page.

"I think it will initially get the information out there, . so at least people are in tune to where [a situation has] happened and what is happening," said Callahan.

An important aspect of the Brandeis Emergency Notification System, which encompasses the additional safety measures undertaken since last fall, is "to be able to reach members of the Brandeis community in as many ways as possible" in case of emergency, according to Chief Information Security Officer Dennis Devlin.

Last semester, the administration implemented an emergency broadcasting system that consists of sirens and University-wide text messaging in case of emergency, as well as e-mailing and messages to campus phones.

According to Senior Vice President for Communication Lorna Miles and Devlin, Library and Technology Services developed an Emergency Notification Dashboard that coordinates all emergency response systems in one screen over the summer. "They were developed separately, and LTS built a console for this so that there's one interface that can be used to drive all of these services at the same time," said Devlin. There are consoles located in the LTS and public safety offices.

"What we've been able to do is create a unified sort of dashboard system . so that in an emergency we can do more, more quickly," said Miles, who highlighted the importance of having "an integrated approach rather than doing each [system] separately," which will make it simpler to use.

One of the benefits of this integrated system is that Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French and other members of the crisis management team can access information from a remote site or off-campus during non-business hours, Miles said.

According to Devlin, an "emergency management team under management of the Executive Vice President has access to [the Emergency Notification Dashboard]," including the campus police department and Miles.

"We can also operate each of the systems independently," making the system easier and more efficient, said Devlin.

"There's a plan and a protocol and a leadership structure so that in an emergency, Brandeis is able to deal with it."

"I think the administration's been really good at developing these systems and trying to make it so that if something were to happen, we would know as soon as possible," said Rachel Graham-Kagan '09. She added that she could hear emergency test sirens even in the Charles River apartments.

As the year progresses, the administration hopes to continue testing out and involving the campus in emergency response measures. "We're looking at having a drill in the fall and involve as much of the community as we can to practice the systems that we have in place," said Callahan.

The firearms committee's May report can be found on the Public Safety Web site.