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Midland College Revamps Security Measures

Spring Break is a reminder we're just a few months away from the end of the school year. Even so, officials with Midland College are still finding ways to revamp their security system.
By Sylvia Gonzalez
NewsWest 9

MIDLAND - Spring Break is a reminder we're just a few months away from the end of the school year. Even so, officials with Midland College are still finding ways to revamp their security system.

An alert system has recently been implemented at MC, it's called the Midland College Chap Alert. When a student enrolls in the school, their information is automatically uploaded to a program. They are then notified if a situation occurs requiring the school to send out thousands of alert messages instantly.

"It allows us to send out a text message in an emergency situation, giving information on what they need to do or need not do, we tested it for the first time last month and successfully sent out about 5,600 text messages in less than a minute," Richard McKee, who is the Chief of Campus Police, said.

In addition to the new alert system, there will also be another security measure added. The way doors are currently accessed throughout the campus will soon be a thing of the past. According to McKee the plan is to equip the campus with an electronic locking system.

"What that does it allows us to control the overall opening and closing of all offices as well as exterior doors. This allows to immediately or almost instantaneously lock the campus down remotely from a computer," McKee said.

Safety precautions at Midland College will not only affect the main campus, it will soon be making it's way to their satellite campuses as well.

"We're in the process of trying to equip our satellite campuses with that same warning system that would allow us to send out emergency messages throughout the building and campus either from that satellite campus or we can do it remotely from here at main campus," McKee said.

Hannah Eaton is a Sophomore at Midland College and although she feels safe at the campus she says it never hurts to have additional security measures in place.

"It's good to have those things in place just in case," Easton said.

McKee says he believes security is important, therefore they will continue to take any measure possible to ensure that.

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