Emergency Communications

They are notices of any significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on a Central Piedmont campus that involve an immediate threat to the health or safety of our students or employees. This may be an approaching weather event, a hazardous material incident, a threat of violence, an armed person or an outbreak of a serious contagious disease or illness. Emergency notifications may also serve as a Timely Warning if the reported incident is also defined as a Clery crime.

Upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation, the college will send an emergency notification with instructions and information regarding the incident via text, email, desktop notifier, Rave Guardian, RSS feed and social media. Messages with additional information and instructions will follow as they become available. Emergency notifications direct all individuals to take immediate action (e.g. shelter-in-place, avoid affected areas, evacuate the campus.)

Timely warnings are required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and often referred to as the Clery Act. A Clery timely warning aids in the prevention of similar crimes by alerting the campus community and thereby enabling community members to take necessary precautions. The Clery Act requires higher education institutions to report statistics on certain crimes, which are referred to as “Clery Act crimes.” 

Review our Annual Security Report (PDF)

The college issues timely warnings when it determines that a Clery Act crime has been committed and presents a serious or continuing threat to the campus community. Examples include:

• aggravated assault
• burglaries (occupied rooms/offices/structures)
• criminal homicide
• hate crimes
• people with weapons with intent to use
• robbery
• sex offenses

For a timely warning to be issued, the crime must have been reported to a campus security authority — such as Campus Security or an official with significant responsibility for student and campus activities — or local police. It also must have occurred on campus, on immediately accessible public property, or at a college-affiliated location.

The college makes decisions to issue a timely warning on a case-by-case basis, in light of all the facts surrounding the crime and the continuing danger to the campus community. The Clery Act does not define what is “timely.” The college issues warnings promptly, as soon as clear, pertinent information is available so that members of the campus community may take precautionary measures.

Generally, timely warnings will specify the type of crime reported, time and location that the crime occurred, and specific advice to the campus community regarding steps to take to avoid becoming a victim. If the suspect has not been identified, the warning will also include a description of the suspect(s), based on police reports. 

The purpose of timely warnings is to provide information that will allow members of the Central Piedmont community to make informed decisions about ensuring personal safety. To protect all those involved in the case, the college will only share as many details as are needed in order to promote safety. Often, the incident will be an open police investigation. The college does not comment or share details about a case under active investigation.

In the event of a campus emergency, the college will send an email to your Central Piedmont email account. Critical Alert notifications will automatically go to your Central Piedmont email account because your Central Piedmont email is the college’s official channel of communication.

You can also add a mobile number, home number, work number, and your personal email address to receive Critical Alert notifications to those devices. If no one answers, the system leaves a voicemail. The system will also send messages to TTY/TDD devices.

Signing up for additional notifications is free. However, be aware of your individual cell phone plan's call and text messaging costs. The numbers you provide will remain confidential. Central Piedmont and Rave Mobile Safety will not release your numbers to third parties.

Follow these instructions to opt-in, and add your mobile, work, and home phone number(s) — plus your mailing address and any non-Central Piedmont email addresses:

1. Use your college login and password to access your User Profile in MyCollege.
2. Review and edit your current address, email address(es) and phone number(s). Please be sure your home, office, and mobile numbers are in the correct fields.
3. Review your Emergency Information in MyCollege for whom we should contact if you have (or are involved in) an emergency.

We strongly encourage you to keep your mobile number updated in your MyCollege user profile for emergency communications.

You cannot opt-out of Critical Alert notification emails to your Central Piedmont account because your Central Piedmont email is the college’s official channel of communication.
You can opt out of receiving voice, personal email, and/or text messages by removing the phone number(s) and/or email addresses you added to your User Profile in MyCollege.

The critical alert system is only one part of the college's notification toolkit. Emergency messages are sent via campus email, phone, text, desktop notifier, Rave Guardian, posted on the Central Piedmont website, and broadcast through the classroom paging system. In a crisis situation, there are factors beyond our control and there is no total guarantee that you will receive critical alert notifications. We encourage you to access all methods of communication provided by the college, as possible.