RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will test its emergency alert system and place several buildings across Richmond on lockdown starting at noon Wednesday.
The tests and lockdowns will impact the university’s Monroe Park campus and MCV campus, including VCU Health and academic buildings.
“You will see a little bit more police presence, especially at those buildings that we have that are going to be locked down just to inform people why they’re locked, help people in if they need to, and be there as a sounding board for any kind of questions that they might have,” explained Tara Thomas, director of emergency management for the VCU Police Department.
In addition to emails and texts, those on campus will hear outdoor sirens and the Alertus boxes located inside residence halls, classrooms, and other high-volume areas in academic buildings. Digital signs, desktop alerts, the LiveSafe app, the VCU Mobile app, and VCU Alert website information are also part of the system-wide testing.
The buildings that will be impacted on the Monroe Park campus are Cabell Library, Shafer Court Dining Center, VCU Academic Learning Commons, and Hibbs Hall.
Buildings included in the lockdown on the MCV campus are VCU Medical Center downtown, College of Health Professions, and McGlothlin Medical Education Center.
The university noted the emergency department at VCU Medical Center will remain accessible and operational during the test.
Thomas explained the purpose behind the tests.
“One is, you want to test the equipment itself, right? We want to make sure that those things are working in the event we need to use them,” she stated. “It’s also to educate our community, right? We want our community to know that this exists — that we’re able to do this in the event of an emergency, and also what they need to do if they do hear it in a real scenario.”
Ten minutes prior to the start of the test, VCU Alert emergency text and email subscribers will receive a message indicating that testing begins at noon; they will also receive a second text message at noon to signify the start of the test.
VCU Police will send out additional messages once the lockdown and alert system testing has concluded, according to a press release.
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