Santa Monica College Questions and Comments from Emergency Preparedness Training
Preface to Responses
Many of the questions listed below concerned active shooter situations. This is understandable
in light of the events of June 7, 2013. However, the most likely emergency that we
will face in the future is an earthquake that causes major damage in the region.
Each of us has a responsibility to be prepared for any emergency that we might confront
in the future. Every situation is different, and the purpose of emergency preparedness
training is to assist you making good decisions during an actual emergency.
Emergency Procedures
The College’s emergency notification system will broadcast a message when it is safe
to open your door. This system will allow us to provide notifications on a building-by-building
basis. If you have any doubts, do not open the door and call 434-4300.
The College has discussed this issue with the City of Santa Monica’s Director of Emergency
Services. The City of Santa Monica will be notified of emergency operations so that
the Big Blue Bus can be diverted.
Santa Monica College treats all students the same without regard to age. We have many
students attending the College under the age of 18 and they are held to the same standards
as any other student. In an emergency, College employees should take prudent steps
to safeguard all students regardless of age. In the aftermath of an emergency response,
special issues may arise concerning reuniting under age students with their families.
College officials will be available to assist you in this responsibility.
Except for the future home of our Malibu campus, no College facility is within a tsunami
inundation zone.
In the event of a tsunami warning and evacuation of coastal areas, it is likely that
a number of streets might be converted to one-way streets in an eastbound direction.
The City of Santa Monica will have the lead responsibility for emergency response
and we will provide updates as necessary.
In the event certain campuses become inaccessible because of emergency operations,
it may be necessary to close some of our facilities and notification will be provided
through our emergency notification system.
The College is an open campus and will remain so. The College is one of the safest
places in the City of Santa Monica and has an around the clock police presence. The
College has an electronic security systems with state-of-the-art equipment.
The instructor is in charge of the classroom. If normal classroom management techniques
do not work, the College authorizes any instructor to inform the student that non-compliance
with emergency procedures will result in student disciplinary action and could lead
to expulsion.
The student should be ordered not to leave the classroom since his/her actions could
jeopardize the safety of the entire group.
In some circumstances, it may be necessary to restrain a student so that the student’s
actions do not endanger the entire group.
The College has a variety of emergency supplies stored on campus. Key College personnel
are aware of their locations and responsible for distribution. Each College employee
should have his or her own emergency kit.
Key personnel have access to emergency response equipment. AED devices are placed
in several locations. Moreover, no kit is required to perform CPR.
Passwords and code words are not effective. To work, they would need to be widely
distributed ahead of time. The shooter may know the password or code word. The College’s
new emergency notification system will broadcast a message when it is safe to open
your door. The new system will allow us to provide notifications on a building by
building basis. If you have any doubts, do not open the door and call 434-4300.
The materials are available on the College’s website. The College distributed individual
emergency kits. The College has large quantities of emergency supplies. Key college
personnel are responsible for distribution of supplies as part of our emergency response.
Emergency posters are placed on the walls of every classroom and other locations.
If you see a classroom that does not have an Emergency poster posted on the bulletin
board please contact Campus Police at 310-434-4608.
You should enlist the help of other students in the class to assist with evacuation.
Consult pages 11-12 of the Emergency Handbook on Evacuation Procedures for Individuals with Disabilities.
This is not a realistic solution since official police identification will often not
fit under a door and some responding officers may not have identification with them.
The College’s emergency notification system will broadcast a message when it is safe
to open your door. This system will allow us to provide notifications on a building-by-building
basis. If you have any doubts, do not open the door and call 434-4300. Do not send
text messages to the police.
Shelter-In-Place is a process designed to protect you during outdoor occurrences
such as chemical or biological releases, protests, natural gas leaks, or other disturbances.
Shelter-In-Place is used when there is limited time to react to an incident and when
it is declared more dangerous to be outside trying to evacuate than to stay in your
current location. If you smell gas within your area and there has been no directive
to Shelter-in-Place, you should cease activities and exit the building.
In a lockdown, there will not be access to restroom facilities. If the lockdown is
for an extended period of time, you will need to improvise alternative ways of containing
urine or feces, such as using available trash containers in the room.
In many circumstances, the College will elect to do a College-wide lockdown as the
best initial response to protect the College community. Many of our students take
classes at multiple locations and we don’t want them leaving a place of safety to
travel to a place of danger. In addition, during the early minutes of an incident,
we do not know whether the suspect might go to multiple locations.
The College’s emergency notification system will broadcast a message when it is safe
to open your door. This system will allow us to provide notifications on a building
by building basis. If you have any doubts, do not open the door and call 434-4300.
Every employee and student should have 310-434-4300 in their phone directory. The professor
in the classroom should make the decision on when to call the police. Reviewing emergency
procedures with your students is a good idea. For example, you want them to call for
help if you are having a medical emergency. Also, instruct your students to download
the LiveSafe App.
The initial notification will be to lock down the campus. When the initial report
of a shooting comes in, the Police will not know exactly where the shooter is, where
he is going, or how many suspects might be involved. A lockdown is the best protocol
to protect the most people. However, some people may have to run based on the facts
available to them. For example, if you are in the cafeteria and you see someone enter
with a gun, running may be the best option.
Bombs can be triggered by radio frequencies. The likelihood of your cellphone triggering
the bomb is remote but not impossible. If law enforcement has significant concerns
about cellphones triggering a device, the Department of Homeland Security has established
a protocol for emergency interruptions of cellular network.
Once you have cleared the evacuation area, it should be safe for you to use your cellphone
unless directed otherwise by law enforcement.
The College has been exploring the implementation of such a system and switched to
a digital system for taking ID pictures.
You are responsible for your students until the emergency has ended and, if evacuation
is required, until your students have safely evacuated from the campus.
You are responsible to try to guide your students to safety. In some circumstances,
it may be best to keep them together as a group. In other circumstances, splitting
up may be the best strategy to protect the most people. Use your best judgement.
Yes – if safe to do so. For example, if you leave a building following an earthquake,
you want to make sure all your students made it out of the building.
This is a judgment call based on the information available to you. If you are in
a place of safety, you don’t want to run into the suspect. This is why the initial
notification is to lockdown. However, if you see the shooter coming, you will need
to run to a place of safety.
Calling 911 from a college phone will reach Campus Police Dispatch, as will dialing
4300. However, if you dial 911 from a cellphone, it will go to the Highway Patrol
Dispatch Center.
This question arises in the context of hazardous waste incidents. In some such incidents,
the fumes may be lower to the ground making the basement and the first floor more
dangerous. Thus, the protocol for high rise buildings is to try to go to a higher
floor. Santa Monica College has very few basements and no high rise buildings. Our
emergency notification system will provide instructions if such an incident occurs
and shelter in place is required.
During an emergency, you will not be able to call anyone. When the emergency is over,
please contact the Facilities Office.
This is a judgment call based on the information available to you. If you are in a
place of safety, you don’t want to run into the suspect. This is why the initial notification
is to lockdown. However, if you see the shooter coming, you will need to run to a
place of safety.
Yes. If you are aware of any unsecured equipment, please let your department chair
or supervisor know about it.
Notification System
Our new emergency notification system will send voice and text notifications to all
IP connected devices on the campus. This will include voice and text to college phones,
text to college computers, text to display readers in various locations, and voice
to outdoor speakers. In addition, we will send text and/or voice messages to personal
phones via Blackboard connect.
It is important for the classroom instructor to project calmness. Use techniques that
work with the student in other situations. Each student with a disability has unique
needs. If you have specific concerns, contact Disabled Student Programs & Services
(DSPS).
If any instructor needs a key to his or classroom, contact your Department chair.
Calling 911 from campus phones is simple. We elected not to program a one-touch button
to avoid accidental calls to the Campus Police Dispatch.
State law requires that our buildings use tempered glass rather than regular glass.
Tempered glass is designed to crack into thousands of pieces rather than breaking
into sharp jagged edges that can harm you. The College does not intend to install
bullet-proof glass in its buildings.
If safe, quickly lock the door from the outside. If you are unable to do so, barricade
the door. Your objective is to slow down the shooter. Police will be responding very
quickly.
If any blinds are broken, a Facility Work Order Request should be completed.
If safe, quickly lock the door from the outside. If you are unable to do so, barricade
the door. Your objective is to slow down the shooter. Police will be responding very
quickly
The College has Automated External Defibrillator (AED) devices in the following locations:
Health Office, Athletics, and Emeritus. In addition, police have five AED devices
which are carried in vehicles. Additional devices will be installed in other locations.
The Academic Senate recommends inclusion of information about Emergency Preparedness
in the model syllabus.
The College has installed locks that meet regulations established by the Division
of State Architect. All classroom doors need to be able to be opened from the inside
without a key. The exterior lock can be used to lock yourself in the room, preventing
those on the outside from entering.
In some circumstances, you will have to use barricades to block access to some rooms.
All entrance doors have automatic locking mechanisms; however, the parking area gates
cannot be remotely closed. There are no current plans to change this since securing
areas where cars are parked is not a high priority. The training video is available
to students on our website and students are invited to periodic trainings taking place
on the Main Campus.
Police officers have a master keys to all rooms.
The College has installed locks that meet regulations established by the Division
of State Architect. All classroom doors need to be able to opened from the inside
without a key. If you have a key to a door, you can lock yourself in the classroom
by using the key on the outside lock.
The College limits the number of persons with access to outside doors. Decisions
are made on a case-by-case basis.
Counseling/ Mental Health
If an emergency occurs while a faculty member is teaching, the faculty member has
the responsibility of managing the classroom and assisting in any evacuation. If a
faculty member is on campus and not in the classroom, the faculty member should assist
in the evacuation efforts as required. Although some faculty may have additional pre-assigned
responsibilities, the College is focusing on assigning duties to personnel who are
on campus from Monday through Friday. These staff will receive training to perform
their emergency duties.
The key is for the person in charge to remain calm and in control.
The instructor is in charge of the classroom. If normal classroom management techniques
do not work, the College authorizes any instructor to inform the student that non-compliance
with emergency procedures will result in expulsion.
The student should be ordered not to leave the classroom since his or her actions
could jeopardize the safety of the entire group.
In some circumstances, it may be necessary to restrain a student so that the student’s
actions do not endanger the entire group.
No. You generally only receive information if the student needs a reasonable accommodation.
This is a judgment call depending on the nature of the emergency. In many emergency
situations, student will not be able to focus on a classroom lecture and in the active
shooter situation, you don’t want to have verbal communication coming from the room.
If appropriate, you could give them an extra-credit writing assignment to keep them
busy.
Persistent email badgering can constitute harassment in violation of the Student Conduct
Code. You should report this behavior to either the Care & Prevention Team or Student
Judicial Affairs.
Training
A variety of training opportunities are available both on-line and in person from
a variety of organizations. Training opportunities are posted at www.smc.edu/emergency
Appointments to the Emergency Preparedness Committee are made by the Faculty Association
and CSEA.
There are many Eyewitness Identification tests on the internet which you can find
by searching “Eyewitness Identification Tests.” You want to provide as much detailed
information to the police as possible. If you can do so safely, take a picture with
you phone.
It is recommended that a faculty member review emergency procedures with students
at the first class session.
Yes.
Yes, it is recommended that a faculty member review emergency procedures with students
at the first class session.
No.
Yes.
The Emeritus facility at 1227 2nd Street is a College facility. Emergency posters have been placed in classrooms and
it is part of our emergency notification system. All Emeritus faculty are encouraged
to attend the College’s emergency preparedness training. Virginia Park is under the
jurisdiction of the City of Santa Monica. You can sign-up for emergency alerts from
the City of Santa Monica at the following website: www.smalerts.net
A description of CERT training, which will be made available to some College employees
on work time, can be found at www.smc.edu/emergency. The College protocol is to lockdown the campus. We don’t want people to run toward
the shooter or interfere with police response. However, in some circumstance, running
may be you only option. For example, if a shooter walked into an open area where there
was no place to hide, you would need to run away.
Yes.
Miscellaneous
Smoking on public sidewalks adjacent to the campus is not unlawful. Smoking on the
campus violates Board Policy.
In some circumstances, blinds can make an area less secure and may be inconsistent
with energy efficiency. Requests for blinds are considered on a case-by-case basis.
Glass buildings are being constructed all over the United States. The College does
not intend to design its buildings based on the actions of criminals. There is no
empirical evidence that suggests that a glass building is any more dangerous than
other building types.
The College will defend and indemnify College employees who are sued because they
provide assistance during an emergency. Good Samaritan laws generally provide legal
protection to volunteers who come to the aid of someone in need of emergency help.
Board Policy 2460 provides that bicycles, motorcycles and mopeds shall not be taken
inside of buildings. The policy prohibits the use of skateboards but not their possession.
The unattended backpack might belong to a student in the classroom.
If the instructor does not recognize the backpack, the instructor should contact Campus
Police.
The device in question is an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The College has
them in several locations: Health Office, Athletics, and Emeritus. In addition, police
have five AED devices which are carried in vehicles. Additional devices will be installed
in other locations.
California law permits the possession of pepper spray subject to certain regulations.
The College does not prohibit personal possession of any pepper spray permitted under
State law. However, you are responsible for ensuring compliance with State law and
may be personally liable for your decision to use pepper spray.
Not every room has a fire extinguisher. They are placed in all required locations.
Only the College can buy and install fire extinguishers.
All media calls should be referred to the Superintendent/President’s Office for routing
to the designated College spokesperson.
The Campus Police has a dispatch center in the Library Building. This building also
houses our Emergency Operations Center. However, an incident command center will be
located based on the nature of the emergency.
Yes.
Under no circumstances are College employees (other than police) allowed to possess
firearms on College property.
Any classroom is a potential hiding location. Once outdoors, you run to a place you
think might be safe.
The only thing you need to know about a bomb is to get away from it. A “dirty bomb”
is one that will disperse radioactive materials.
