SMSU Alert is the university's emergency notification system used to alert students, staff and faculty in the event of an emergency or threat on campus. Under appropriate circumstances, the SMSU Public Safety Department will issue emergency notifications, and/or timely warnings regarding criminal activity or safety issues concerning campus as required by law. 

• A SMSU emergency notification is notification of an incident that is currently occurring on, or imminently threatening the campus,
• A SMSU Timely Warning is notification of Clery crime(s) that have already occurred and are considered by the institution to represent a serious or continuing threat to students and employees,
• A SMSU Safety Notification may be issued when an incident or crime has occurred and may affect members of the campus community, but an emergency notification or timely warning is not required. 

Timely Warnings, emergency notifications, and safety notification messages are typically created, authorized, and sent by University Public Safety and the University Emergency Response Team. The Director of Public Safety (or the Director’s designee) determines if there is a continuing threat to the University community.

Notification Procedures

Information and instructions may be sent using one or more methods.

• Text message to your cell phone 
• E-mail notification to your SMSU email account (automatically opted in)
• Audio message to a cell phone or other telephone
• University website
• Residence Life bulletin 
• Facebook – Southwest Minnesota State University Public Safety

Confirming the Existence of a Significant Emergency or Dangerous Situation and Initiating the Emergency Notification System

Once it is confirmed there is, in fact, an emergency or dangerous situation that poses an immediate threat to the health and/or safety of some or all members of the campus community, the Director of University Public Safety, or other assigned designees will assess the need to issue an emergency notification.

SMSU Public Safety will without delay, and taking into account the safety of the community, determine the content of the notification and initiate the notification system. The only instance there may be a delay, would be the case that issuing a notification will, in the professional judgment of responsible authorities, compromise efforts to assist a victim or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency. As soon as the condition that may compromise efforts is no longer present, the University will issue the emergency notification to the campus community.

Determining the Contents of the Emergency Notification

SMSU Public Safety has primary responsibility for coordinating the issuance of a “SMSU Alert”, determining the content of the “SMSU Alert”, and determining which of the methods available for issuance of the “SMSU Alert” will be utilized. The University has a single template message to alert the community of a dangerous situation (SMSU Alert! Dangerous Situation! Seek secure shelter immediately, away from doors and windows. More info to follow.) as quickly as possible. Once that is sent out, there will be a follow-up with more specific details. The only exception to this is when issuing Tornado Warnings and Severe Weather Alerts. The goal is to ensure individuals are aware of the situation and that they know the steps to take to safeguard their personal and community safety.

Procedures for Disseminating Emergency Information to the Greater Community

Dependent upon the situation, Southwest Minnesota State University may work through the office of Communications and Marketing to notify the greater Marshall community through designated websites (http://www.smsu.edu), radio and TV alerts through local news media, and other social media platforms. However, in emergency situations, any police supervisor may authorize an Emergency Notification. For incidents involving off-campus crimes, the University may issue an Safety Notification if the crime occurred in a location used and frequented by the University population. 

Enrolling in the University's Emergency Notification System

Students, faculty and staff are highly encouraged to enter and update contact information online:

• Students: https://smsu.bbcportal.com/
  • Instructions to opt-in to notifications can be found here

We encourage other members of the campus community to enroll in the SMSU Alert system.

Timely Warning Reports

In an effort to provide timely notice to the campus community in the event of a Clery Act crime that may pose a serious or ongoing threat to members of the community, the SMSU Public Safety Department issues “Timely Warnings.” University Public Safety will generally issue Timely Warnings for the following crimes:

• Major incidents of arson
• Murder/non-negligent manslaughter
• Robbery

Crimes that would not present a continuing threat and therefore might not merit a Timely Warning, include the following:

• An assault occurs between two students who have a disagreement, there may be no on-going threat to other Southwest Minnesota State community members and a Timely Warning would not be distributed.
• In cases involving sexual assault, they are often reported long after the incident occurred, thus there is no ability to distribute a “timely” warning notice to the community.
• In the case of a late report. These cases may be so delayed there is no possibility of issuing a “timely” warning to the community. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on when and where the incident occurred, when it was reported, and the amount of information available.
• Crimes in which the perpetrator have been apprehended, thereby eliminating the threat.
• Crimes in which an identified perpetrator is only targeting specific individuals to the exclusion of others, such as domestic violence.

All initial Timely Warning messages will begin with “SMSUTimely Warning” to indicate the severity of the message and will provide a brief description of the timely warning or emergency response notice. When additional information is available, it may be provided using one or more of the methods listed above. The information you receive may provide vital information on what actions you need to take if you are on campus during such a situation. In the event a timely warning is sent, it may include following information:

• Type of crime
• Date, time and location of the crime
• Brief description of the incident
• Available suspect information
• Safety tips to help with the risk of being involved in a similar incident.

The purpose of these Timely Warnings is to notify the campus community of the incident and to provide information that may enable community members to protect themselves from similar incidents. imely Warnings will be provided to students and employees in a manner that is timely, that withholds the names of victims as confidential, and that will aid in the prevention of similar occurrences.  The University will issue Timely Warnings whenever the following criteria are met:

1. A crime is committed
2. The perpetrator has not been apprehended; and
3. There is a substantial risk to the physical safety of other members of the campus community because of this crime.
4. Clery Act crimes that are reported to any campus security authority or the local police; or
5. The University determines that the incident represents an on-going threat to the campus community.

Additionally, SMSU Public Safety may, in some circumstances, issue Timely Warnings when there is a pattern of crimes against persons or property. The Director of University Public Safety will generally make the determination, in consultation with other University officials, if a Timely Warning is required.