By Brian Villalba
Responding to a possible active shooting threat similar to last semester’s Santa Monica College incident, ELAC will stage a lockdown drill to ensure campus safety
The drills will be held on Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. and 6:10 p.m.
The increase of active shooter incidents inspired the 25 minute drill. “The Santa Monica College shooting was too close,” Deputy Francisco Velasco said.
The drill will be a coordinated effort between the sheriffs, faculty and administration, who will direct students to the appropriate course of action.
“One of the goals of the drill is to have people thinking now, so they can have a plan. It is too late to plan during a crisis,” Velasco said.
During the drill, ELAC will use four emergency systems to alert students and instructors of the event.
They will receive an email alert and text message of what is happening on campus. The fire safety intercom and speaker phone system will alert the people on campus.
Students and instructors who want the text message alerts would need to sign up for the program.
Sheriff deputies will guide people walking on campus to a safe area for the duration of the time.
The administrators have the ability to lock down the campus remotely, but that system was only updated in the new renovated buildings on campus including E1, G1 and F7.
The remote lockdown system would lock the buildings’ outside doors.
A supervisor will lock down most older buildings, including the E7 Technology Center manually.
The lockdown will restrict entry to the building from the outside, but allow people to exit.