UC Davis Makes Emergency Alert System Available To Entire Davis Community
DAVIS (CBS13) - The 101st annual Picnic Day is this weekend, and officials at UC Davis are preparing for the celebration.
It's an event that sometimes causes trouble on and off campus.
This year, we wanted to know what organizers are doing to keep the event fun and family friendly.
Usually when there's an emergency at UC Davis, the staff and students know about it. But now school officials want to make sure the entire community knows, including business owners.
"If there's something going on that's not right, then we need to know," said Richard Luna, a business owner.
As Picnic Day fast approaches, Luna and others want to be kept informed.
"Picnic day is a great event so we expect to be busy," said Andy Fell, a spokesperson for UC Davis.
Davis will be instantly transformed into a mecca of music, dancing and endless entertainment on Picnic Day.
It's touted as a safe, family friendly event. But in years past, Picnic Day has been marred by unruliness fueled by alcohol.
"We usually make a large amount of arrests on picnic day," said Davis P.D. spokesperson Lt. Thomas Waltz.
When major emergencies happen on campus, students and faculty are immediately notified through text alerts and emails.
"It's when we have something urgent or fast-moving on campus and we need to get the word out and let people know about it," said Fell.
School officials are now opening up the emergency notification service to the entire Davis community.
"We can send email, text messages, voice messages out through this system," said Fell.
"Well the campus is right really close, so if something happens on campus, I think the community should know about it," said Davis resident Sheng Lee.
Most expect this weekend to be a celebration of all things festive and safe, and the new enhanced emergency alert system could help keep it that way.
"Because everybody needs to be prepared," said Davis resident Dan Castanon.
Click here to sign up for the alert system.
