Beginning in November, Lake Land College (LLC) plans to implement its new Rave system for emergency response communications. The new system will be opt-out by default, which means that users must actively go through a process if they wish to cease vital emergency communications. Additionally, the new system will support multiple platforms, such as calls, text, email, Facebook, Twitter, and a banner on the college’s website.

Upon being asked why LLC was moving to a new emergency communications system, Sergeant Todd Short of the LLC Police Department expressed that “We wanted a vendor that could provide us with the most efficient and reliable means of communication possible.” Rave itself is known to have a very proven track record in the field, as several entities such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign employ it for their emergency communications.

Director of Marketing and Public Relations Kelly Allee mentioned another reason why LLC has decided to switch to a new system. She stated that the current system gets bogged down whenever it sends out mass communications, which can be a serious problem when there is a crisis.

As such, Rave is considered to be a massive improvement over the current system, which can only notify students, staff, and faculty via text and email. Another improvement of the new system stems from the system itself being hosted remotely (compared to the current one which is hosted fully on campus). Therefore, if the campus were to lose power, reliable communications can still be established quickly, effectively, and reliably.

Mr. Short also explained that “one of the largest strengths of using Rave as a third-party vendor and host is that emergency services are provided off-site, so we can send the messages externally from campus.” The odds of failure are thus considered to be “extremely improbable”.

The new system will be marketed and deployed all over campus as Laker Alert, and it will be complete with direction and guidance so that everyone knows exactly what to do in case of an emergency. Be sure to remain vigilant for any notifications regarding the new system!