911 Text Alerts Kept University of Texas Students Safe

A 19 year old sophomore at the University of Texas opened fire Tuesday while running through the Austin campus using an AK-47, then eventually killed himself.

No one else was shot, and most of the credit for a low body count is going to the university’s crisis-management plan.

As part of this plan, the schools text messaging system reached out to more than 43,000 people, warning students, faculty and staff to stay away from the area the gunman was holed up.  The text also advised students to remain indoors.

Here’s a few important questions to ask:

  • Does your child’s elementary, middle, high school or university have an emergency text messaging system in place?  Services such as Mobile Campus provides real-time emergency alerts for schools across the country.
  • Are you and your family members listed on the text recipient list?
  • If your child’s school has yet to implement an emergency text messaging system, when is planned to be implemented?

An emergency text messaging system is one instance on how text technology can save lives.  It’s also clear that every school should have a system in place exactly like the University of Texas has implemented.

Since almost everyone carries their cell phones, sending emergency messages by text is the perfect solution for emergency and life threatening situations.

Leave a Reply