Chief of police Richard Bukowieki and Vice President of Student Services Stephen Johnson introduced ALERTU to the students and staff at Cerritos College at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

ALERTU is a mass notification system that will only be used in emergency situations such as natural disasters, transportation disasters, and any event that can impact students and staff at Cerritos in a harmful way.

After the shooting at Virginia Tech, all college campuses around the U.S. have looked for a more effective way to get the message out to their student about any emergency issues, and Cerritos College has found the tool to make it easier for their students and staff to get the message.

There are other methods to finding out information on emergencies at Cerritos, Bukowieki explains how ALERTU is beneficial,  “We have different options in place, but its one piece of the big picture to get people to information as quickly as possible.”

The text messages will be sent out through Cerritos College campus police.  This system will expand the police department’s ability to get messages out in a rapid pace.

Other ways students and faculty can get information is on the MyCerritos home page.  Posters are also posted around school campus if there are any necessary messages that need to be addressed.

It is a simple process to sign up. Text CERRITOS to 253788 (ALERTU) and you will then receive a welcome text message. To sign up to the CERRITOS Emergency SMS System, reply back Y (YES).

Programming ‘253788′ as “ALERTU” into your contact list is important so if messages are being sent it is easy to distinguish the alert.

Up to four text messages will be received in the first year of subscription to remind you of your services.

Just as easy as it was to sign up, text STOP to unsubscribe to the alert system.

ALERTU is web-based application that is free to use; only standard text messages rates apply. 

Privacy is essential for the community of Cerritos it will be insured that all personal information will be kept private.  

This service is in affect immediately.