Editorial on 911 system crashing raised valid point

TO THE EDITOR:

Your editorial, “Who you gonna call?” (Sept. 14) raises a good point. You suggest that the Alert Carolina Web site should have posted Orange County’s news about last week’s 911 service interruption. We’re taking steps to do that in the future, and we’ve added links on the Alert site to local law enforcement agencies and CodeRED, an emergency alert service provided by the county.

The University’s Department of Public Safety operates a 911 service that directly receives calls from campus landlines and most cell phone calls made from campus. That service was not interrupted last week. For emergency help, you can also call Public Safety by using the emergency call boxes. Push the button and the police will respond immediately.

It’s important for students, faculty and staff to know what to do in an emergency. That’s why the University will conduct its fall semester test of the emergency sirens next Tuesday between noon and 1 p.m. Cell phone users who have registered their numbers in the online campus directory will also receive a text message. The sirens are the fastest and most effective way for the University to inform you about a life-threatening situation. For more information, see alertcarolina.unc.edu.


Mike McFarland
Director
University Communications