EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University (MSU) students will receive emergency alerts via text, email, phone call, appl and voice announcements made over the university’s weather sirens, reports CBS News Detroit.
Additionally, the Safe MSU app has information on safety resources, such as police department contact information, safe rides information, a virtual friend walk feature and more.
Students and faculty members who want to access on-campus buildings after hours will now need to use their MSU ID cards. Key fob access control has also been installed and is being monitored by campus employees.
These safety and security changes on campus come in the wake of the February active shooter incident that killed three MSU students and seriously injured five others.
Additionally, MSU has a new 24-hour, fully staffed security operations center that can monitor both video surveillance feeds and send out emergency notifications.
MSU installed thousands of locks on campus doors, with most of them installed before the start of the fall semester, and additional security cameras, according to WKAR.
How Michigan State Boosted Its On-Campus Security
In February, MSU Board of Trustees Chair Rema Vassar told Bridge Michigan that the university has increased the frequency of its security enhancement plans from one-year and five-year plans to six-month plans.
The request for more security funding was prompted by the Feb. 13 mass shooting that was carried out by a 43-year-old gunman who had no apparent connection to MSU. He entered Berkey Hall around 8:18 p.m. and started shooting, killing two people.
Because officers were at Berkey Hall, the suspect left that building and went to the MSU Student Union and opened fire again, killing another person before fleeing the scene. The gunman took his own life a short while later.
Before the shooting, both buildings involved in the attack were open to the general public during business hours, and neither had a card access system in place.
The three students killed in the shooting have been identified as Arielle Anderson, 19, Brian Fraser, 20, and Alexandria Verner, 20.
The original version of this article appeared on SSI’s sister site, CampusSafety.com.
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