The Bucknell community received an email from Public Safety Chief Anthony Morgan on July 31 addressing concerns that arose from the active shooter hoax in the Spring 2024 semester.
On March 29, Public Safety received a tip call that there was an active shooter on campus, resulting in a campus lockdown to address the issue, until it was identified as a swatting incident roughly an hour later. The recent email states that the investigation into the attack is ongoing and that Public Safety is continuing to work with the FBI to identify a suspect.
Following the swatting event, many community members felt there were ways that the response should be improved moving forward, which was discussed in a Public Safety debrief on April 11.
Chief Morgan identified four common concerns that emerged from the responses to the survey sent out following the debrief: mandatory enrollment in the emergency alert system; more training for students and employees; enhancement of emergency policies and communication; and more frequent communications during an event.
The email goes on to detail how only the first three concerns will be addressed, omitting the fourth, “as decisions on communication frequency during an event are situationally dependent.”
Firstly, Public Safety put into place mandatory enrollment of students and employees into Bucknell’s Rave system notifications. Some parents had expressed a desire to also be included in these notifications, but automatic enrollment is not currently possible. Although after the incident, students were urged to add their parent’s phone numbers to the system if they wanted to do so.
During the April 11 debrief, Chief Morgan mentioned that they may look into a way to spread emergency messages on a wider scale, such as by being able to broadcast on campus technology such as University-owned laptops and computers. In addressing the second concern of improved emergency communication, the email explains that Public Safety has contracted with Alertus, a third-party emergency broadcasting system.
During the swatting incident, the loudspeaker was not used as is routine, due to concerns of whether or not they would have time to get it up in running. The new Alertus system will allow for a more seamless utilization of the loudspeaker system, as well as the screen broadcasting previously mentioned. Public Safety intends to test the system on August 7. Altogether, the Rave system can send messages through the BSAFE app, Alertus, email, phone call, desktop takeover and text.
Chief Morgan added that they have “worked with [their] radio vendor to fix a patching issue that impaired agency communication and tested it to ensure it works.”
In order to address the urge for more student and employee training in the event of an emergency, Public Safety has continued to promote their BSAFE app, which contains videos and emergency information. They are also “[awaiting the] approval of an updated emergency guide for the campus community and a separate guide for University administrators.” New active shooter training video content has also been added to the app, which will include more spaces on campus in order to better situationally prepare the campus community.
Chief Morgan stated that they are aiming for the changes to be completed by August 14, before the fall semester begins. On this same date from 7am to 3pm, Public Safety and local first responders will perform their annual Active Shooter Drills.
