New Emergency Call Boxes Installed in All Classrooms

Have you ever wondered what those black boxes in the front of your classroom were for? Well, it’s time to breath easy; with a touch of a button the Sheriff’s are on their way.

             Installed in November, the Advance Tec Industries two-way radios are here to bridge communication between the Pierce College Sheriff station and each classroom on campus.

            One problem, nobody knows what they are.

            When asked if they knew what the black boxes on the walls were, students shrugged answering, “I didn’t know but it’s a good idea. I think it’s important,” said Katherine Marroquin, 23, a math major and a tutor at the Tutoring Center.

            “They installed it, we should have been informed,” said Payam Taheri. “They put it there for us to use. But we don’t know how to use them” explained the 25-year-old physic major who is keeping the safety of the estimated 35 student that are in the tutoring center at any one time in mind.

            Even teachers and professional staff were a bit confused, “We don’t really know if it has been activated,” Nazanin Bahrampour one of the office manager for the Center of Academic Success. “People are very confused about how the [black boxes] are suppose to help them”

            Some staff have noted the likely hood of students pressing the emergency button which could interrupt class sessions, “Any student could press a button as a joke,” Zarrin Paiar another office manager for the Center of Academic Success said. “It would have been nice to install [them] for the staff [in] a more hidden spot”

            Deputy Ron Nohles of the Pierce College Sheriff station agrees, “pranks will happen” but safety is the main concern.

              “The main idea is that these are for faculty and staff to use, the faculty can instruct a student to use it if needed.” Paul Neiman, director of facilities,
 explains.

            When asked which classrooms have these emergency boxes, “Most of the classes have them, if not get them,” Deputy Nohles confirms. “All classes are supposed to have them.”

            Deputy Nohles clarifies that when a button is pushed on the box a signal is sent to the Sheriff’s station with an exact location of which box was activated that will let Sheriff Deputies know where to go. There is also a two-way radio feature hooked up to a phone at the Sheriff station. 

“I think it’s important that companies, like us [Advance Tec Industries], that have the technologic advances should be putting an effort towards working with schools and helping our communities.” Regional Sales Director for Advance Tec Industries Angel Cortes explains, “Especially with the increase of school shooting and campus violence which are among the things facing schools these days.” 

The emergency call boxes use the iDent technology, which is a service provided by Sprint. Which requires a service plan in order to be activated.

Advance Tec Industries declined to share the cost of the service plan required.

In a telephone interview Cortes shares that Pierce College approached Advance Tec Industries when the concern for campus safety a few years ago.

“These call boxes were developed for [Pierce College], you are the first people in the world to have them installed.” Cortes, a five-year employee, says.

 

            “I am completely in favor of the boxes, they increase campus safety and the ability to respond to emergency situations in order to protect the students, faculty and staff.” Nieman expressed. 

“Pierce College needs a way to communicate to and from the classrooms in emergency situations” Nieman continues.

Since being installed in November Deputies have been called out a few times claiming they are “still working out the bugs” since the calls have been triggered with no one pressing the button causing “false alarms”.

Although there may be a few bugs in the system hopes are high, “Once up and running, I believe it will be efficient” confidently affirmed Deputy Nohles.

Deputy Nohles verbalized no specific reason for the radios and that there has been no official training for the Sheriffs in regards to the new system.

 “The units cost about $200 a piece, [which] is 50% lower than is being charged to other entities that want the boxes.  We were able to attain this pricing because we were involved in the development of the product.” According to Nieman.

According to Nieman, the genesis of the “call-box” idea came from Robert Garber when he was the President and the faculty was trained prior to the go-live date, which was the start of this semester.