Cypress College Emergency Preparation


Spring 2023: Active Shooter Drill

About the Drill

Cypress College participated in an Active Shooter drill on Wednesday, April 12, 2023. All members of the campus community are required to participate in drills.

The drill was held at 10:20 a.m. There was no alarm to start the drill. Cypress College Campus Safety tested our emergency alert system concerning an Active Shooter scenario. This test encompassed sending out three different alerts over the course of 15 minutes.

In the first alert, you were notified that this is a Test and that there is an Active Shooter on Campus and that you should shelter in place using the Run – Hide – Fight method.

The second alert notified you that the shooter had been contained but to continue to shelter in place.

The final alert notified you that it is safe to resume normal activities.

The Run – Hide – Fight method was developed by the Department of Homeland Security to give the best chance of survival. Below is a link to a short, six-minute video that Campus Safety asks you to watch in order to better introduce yourself to this method.

Instructions and Resources

  • The drill commenced at 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday, April 12, 2023
  • The drill commenced using our emergency alert system
  • Participation in the drill was required

Important Resources:

Run – Hide – Fight Method:

  • RUN
    • Seek safety. Getting away from the attacker is the top priority.
    • Leave your belongings behind and get away.
    • Call 9-1-1 when you are safe and describe the attacker, location, and weapons.
  • HIDE
    • Cover and hide if you can’t evacuate. Find a place to hide out of view of the attacker and put a solid barrier between yourself and the threat if possible.
    • Lock and block doors, close blinds and turn off lights.
    • Keep silent.
  • FIGHT
    • Fight only as a last resort. When you can’t run or cover, attempt to disrupt the attack or disable the attacker.
    • Be aggressive and commit to your actions.
    • Recruit others to ambush the attacker with makeshift weapons such as chairs, fire extinguishers, scissors, books, etc.
    • Be prepared to cause severe or lethal injury to the attacker.

Text Alerts and Emergency Notifications

Students are encouraged to utilize myGateway to update their personal information for text alert messaging in the event of an emergency. Students must provide their personal information in myGateway to receive these text notifications.

Follow these steps to verify that your cell phone and email address are entered and current:

  • Sign into myGateway.
  • Go to the “Personal Information” channel under the “Student” tab.
  • Click on the item “Set Text Message Alert Preferences.”
  • When clicking on “Set Text Message Alert Preferences,” the next screen will allow you to enter your cell phone information, the cellular service provider, the level of messages you wish to receive and the campus or campuses you want to be notified about.
  • After entering your information, click on the “Submit” button.

Our experience has proven Twitter to be a reliable method of emergency communication. In addition to asking you to sign up for text messages (see above), please help out by signing up to follow the college on Twitter. You can do so by visiting twitter.com/CypressCollege and clicking on the “follow” button.

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