Updated Tuesday, May 19, 10:46 a.m. – Davidson College officials are planning tests on a new emergency alert siren on Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m. Campus Police Chief Fountain Walker said the new siren is being installed on the roof of Little Library.

The signal will operate independently of the Town of Davidson’s existing siren, which sounds when emergency calls come in to the fire department. (Note: The test originally had been scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon, but was re-scheduled Tuesday morning.)

“It’s for emergency notifications and weather, and it will have both audible tones and voice capability,” Chief Walker said.

The college will likely conduct further tests a couple of times a year, including one this summer, he said.

How often might it be used? Chief Walker said he expects it to sound “rarely.”

CAMPUS POLICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Here’s the text of Chief Walker’s announcement about the test Tuesday morning.

Greetings Davidson,

In our continuous effort to keep Davidson College a safe place to live, work, and learn the institution has seen fit to add a public address system to our array of emergency response systems. What this means to Davidson is timely notification in the event of a serious emergency or imminent danger to our community through first responder, electronic, phone, and audible communications. This in addition to the college’s Emergency Response Team’s campus wide emergency plan will improve our ability to reduce injury, damage to property, and most importantly loss of life.

We will be testing our public address system today (Tuesday, May 19) between 3 and 4 p.m. You will hear a serious of beeps, police-siren like wails, a computer-generated voice, and maybe a foghorn at some point. Our tones will not be similar to the Town’s siren or McGuire’s. Once the testing is complete we will compose a fact sheet for the community to orient you on what specific alert tones mean. Thank you Davidson and be safe.

Chief Fountain L. Walker
Davidson College Campus Police